The Iriduan’s Mate by Susan Trombley
Twenty-Seven
Deep within the humid under-vents, an Urasol guard paced near the primary access point to Sha Zaska’s inner coil. Ceiling mounted turrets hung from the rock over his head, and scanners traced their light across the walls.
The bulky Urasol thug wore a full suit of armor and carried a Blauken rifle capable of taking off the head of the average Urasol with a single explosive shot. Collateral damage was generally high, but the species didn’t often concern themselves with subtlety.
The creature lifted his head, his snout wrinkling as his nostrils flared, detecting something near the entrance access panel. Readying his rifle, he strode on heavy footsteps closer to the panel, his head cocked. Both turrets trained on the access panel in response to the shift of his eyes behind his helmet.
The only thing he found was a strange orb that had fallen through one of the vents in the access panel. He knelt to get a closer look at it, then spotted the light that suddenly flickered inside it, followed by a high-pitched whining sound.
“Hybernia’s claws!” He jumped backwards, but not in time to avoid the crackling explosion that sent him staggering, ropes of energy surging over his armor.
The damage from the EMP grenade spread to the turrets and scanners, and the Urasol fell to the ground, struggling against the weight of his own armor now that the mechanical assist from its AI had been deactivated.
With a loud growl, he yanked off his helmet, flinging it aside, then rolled onto his hands and knees. He looked up towards the access panel, but the end of the barrel of a rifle less than a handspan from his head caught his full attention.
His second curse cut off short as the back of his skull exploded, splattering the walls behind him with blood and brain matter.
Shulgi kicked the heavy body of the thug over onto its back, scanning it quickly for anything useful, but finding nothing that would aid him in his infiltration. He stepped around it, passing under the deactivated turrets, not bothering to clean up the evidence of his passage. It wouldn’t be long before whoever oversaw Zaska’s security noticed that their cameras were down in this section of the tunnels.
The sooner Shulgi reached his destination, the less likely Zaska’s minions would discover him, though his blood burned for a good fight. That wasn’t his mission now. He couldn’t waste time battling low level thugs so that Sha Zaska had a chance to escape. He had to dispatch them quickly.
The stealth mode of his armor would keep him from being easily detectible by any cameras, even those with thermal imaging as it also concealed his body temperature. Still, Zaska had more patrols within his outer tunnels, not to mention the labyrinthine design of them meant to confuse and disorient any potential intruders.
The under-vents were massive, the basalt pocked in every direction by tunnels. Some had been worked by hand or machine to smooth their walls, but most were left in their natural rough state. As Shulgi proceeded through them, he encountered multiple lava wells spreading their heat through the damp tunnels so that steam filled the air.
Had he not been wearing a sealed helmet, the misty clouds would be suffocating.
He dispatched the next patrol of Zaska’s minions with quick, silenced shots from his multi-function rifle, the heads of the cli ku triad rocking backwards as the rounds pierced them, one by one, so fast that they had no time to react. A brief scan of the tunnel they’d exited showed no sign of further patrols or turrets, and Shulgi continued his search, following the path laid out for him by Luna’s message.
He had no idea how she’d gotten this information, nor did he think she would have told him had he asked. Still, he trusted it to lead him true. Roz would have stopped her from giving it to him if it would mislead him.
He hoped.
Shulgi detected multiple clutches of minions throughout the twisting maze of tunnels, but he didn’t bother with them as their patrols seemed to keep them within certain areas of operation that wouldn’t intercept his path. Unless they were alerted to his presence. Thus far, he’d managed to avoid the cameras scanning the tunnels, either by remaining in stealth mode as he passed beneath them or skirting around their view span.
He wasn’t far from the inner coil where Zaska’s primary body should be when something managed to ambush him.
He wasn’t the only one using light-bending and temperature controlling technology to avoid detection. As he passed through a tunnel filled with steam thanks to a nearby lava well, a weight fell upon him from above.
The shriek of a scala filled the air as it slashed at the seals of his armor with two arms while knocking aside his rifle with the other two. Talon like rear claws wrapped around his shoulders as the creature’s weight bore him down to his knees. Bony appendages from his shoulders slashed rapidly at Shulgi’s helmet.
The force of the attack and the unexpectedness of it caused Shulgi to drop his weapon and use both hands to pull the scala off his back. He tossed the heavy beast against one wall, and its stony skin shifted to match the rock it struck briefly before turning back to a pasty grayish white. The bony, eight-limbed beast had no visible eyes, but the lower third of its face split nearly in half to reveal a mouth filled with multiple rows of teeth and a long, whiplike tongue with hard, serrated edges.
Each of its four arms terminated in three lethal claws, capable of slashing through lesser quality armor than Shulgi’s. They’d still managed to score the surface of Shulgi’s armor, which damaged the stealth coating that would allow him to sneak effectively past any further obstacles.
At the moment, he had bigger problems. The wing like appendages that the creature used to assist it in digging through tunnels or gripping walls to scurry up and down them were now darting towards his head, jagged claws on the tips aiming for the most vulnerable part of his helmet that covered his eyes and provided the screen for his heads-up display.
A quick sideways glance showed him that his weapon had fallen close to the edge of the lava well. The strap of the rifle burned where it touched the molten rock. He ducked beneath a slashing wingtip, rolling to the side towards his weapon.
The creature leapt after him, realizing what his intent was. It hit him in the chest with the full weight of its body, sending Shulgi staggering backwards as he fought to fend off all four of its arms and its two shoulder appendages.
His blood surged with combat stimulants, speeding his strength, agility, and speed as they wrestled. A satisfying snap sounded from the scala, followed by an agonized shriek, when Shulgi broke one of the four arms.
He managed to snap a second one after another brief flurry of strikes and counterblows, but the creature’s frantic movements pushed them both closer to the edge of the lava well. Shulgi’s foot bumped his rifle, sending it into the pool of molten rock.
With an irritated grunt as it melted into a useless fiery mess, he managed to free one hand long enough to draw a dagger.
The scala swung at his head with an upper arm, the broken one below it sagging uselessly. The blow rocked Shulgi’s head back, but he retaliated quickly by slashing the tendons attached to the creature’s shoulder, disabling that arm as well.
Brackish green blood welled from the cut as Shulgi turned his attention to the other side of the creature. He stabbed his dagger through the upper shoulder as a wingtip finally managed to crack his helmet.
The creature’s last fully functioning arm kept his belly covered, cautious now that he no longer had the upper hand on Shulgi. Shulgi dodged another wingtip strike to his cracked visor, feinting another slash at the scala’s arm. This distraction allowed him to draw his second dagger and punch it through the chest of the scala.
The creature shrieked a piercing cry of pain and used one taloned foot to kick him away, sending Shulgi stumbling into the lava well.
He heard the creature’s triumphant cry as the molten rock engulfed him. His HUD filled with red alerts, alarms in his helmet drowning out its screams of victory. He flailed against the thick lava, catching hold of a portion of solid basalt at the edge of the well.
With effort, he pulled his body out of the molten liquid, flames licking from the lava pouring off his damaged armor. If his wings hadn’t been tucked beneath his armor, they would be gone by now. He was grateful he’d decided he wouldn’t need them in the tight tunnels.
The scala’s victory cry cut off with a startled shriek as Shulgi charged him. His molten body struck the scala, setting its flesh aflame. It flailed, wingtips stabbing desperately as Shulgi clung to it, both arms around its waist as he pulled it tighter against him, flames engulfing it. His chest pressed the dagger that he’d left in its torso even deeper, driving it home.
As soon as the creature slumped dead, Shulgi cast it aside. He worked quickly to strip the damaged, melting armor off his body, tossing the pieces aside with frustration.
Without his armor or primary weapon, his battle against Sha Zaska would be much more difficult.
He wouldn’t allow that to stop him.
Wearing only his undersuit, he retrieved his undamaged dagger, then continued through the tunnels, moving quicker now. Since he no longer had stealth on his side, he had to use speed to keep the element of surprise.
As he moved through the final tunnels to Zaska’s inner coil, he noted the lack of minions guarding it. In fact, it seemed that the place even lacked cameras and scanners once he passed a certain point. It was as if Zaska didn’t want to be monitored or have his inner sanctum patrolled, even by his own people.
Shulgi could understand why. It was usually your allies that ended up bringing you down in the end. He knew that better than anyone.
Though this development worked in his favor, he didn’t allow himself to grow incautious as he approached Sha Zaska’s lair. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he drew closer to the monstrous beast. Something definitely wasn’t right, and he wondered if he should have trusted Luna.
Surely, a boss as powerful as Zaska was—with a reach as long as he was rumored to have—should have sensed Shulgi’s approach, yet not a single foul limb had unfurled from the deep shadows of the tunnels to snatch Shulgi up and squeeze him to death.
Shulgi had braced himself to face off against a monster he pictured to be built like Nemon, only on a much larger scale. Instead, he reached a locked door that blended so well with the rock around it that only his wrist com told him it was the location he sought.
With the hacking device he’d gotten from Namerian, the lock took less than a Standard minute to disengage. He hid against the wall beside the door as it slid open.
He’d expected a tentacle to unfurl, or perhaps a mass of them to shoot out of the opening and writhe around in search of whoever had unlocked the stone door. Instead, nothing exited through that portal and after a long minute of waiting in breathless silence, he cautiously glanced around the door frame.
To his surprise, the room beyond wasn’t that large. Certainly not nearly large enough to fit the body of a monster that fed on hundreds of slaves each annum. Instead, he spotted a bank of monitors circling the walls of the round room. An elevator bisected the center of the room, the door closed and presumably locked. Sitting in front of the monitors that flickered with different vantage points in the surrounding tunnels, a single human snored softly, head leaning to the side. In front of the human male, a bottle of liquor sat on the desk that fronted the monitors.
Shulgi approached with silent steps, noting the muscular build of the human. He was rock solid but looked more like a laborer than a warrior. Once Shulgi moved close enough to get a better look at the male, he noted a slave brand on the man’s neck.
The sight of it raised his brows. It was strange to see the slave of a major warehouse company from third-tier being put in charge of security in Zaska’s supposed lair.
Things weren’t adding up, and Shulgi now felt more confused than ever about Sha Zaska—and about the information Luna had given him. Perhaps he’d been correct to mistrust her. He still didn’t know why Roz would join in whatever game she was playing.
The only way to get answers he needed was to force them out of this human, who, despite the brand on his neck, did not appear to be a slave any longer.
