Antelligent Design

109. Lightning Crashes

On a nearby rise to the side of the road, Isaac and his archers appear, each one bending their bows and taking aim at the mage slaves. As the arrows speed through the air, the mages are forced to split their attention, raising barriers to defend themselves from the barrage whilst maintaining their own offensive.

Some of the mages turn their attention to disrupting Isaac and his hunting party, flinging spells that sear the air. But at this range, it’s hard to be accurate and deadly enough. The archers are able to scramble out of the danger zone, avoiding injury. Except the mages succeed in scattering the archers, which was their aim.

All this time, Tiny weaves his way through the danger. He is doing remarkably well, enough that I’m convinced we’re going to get into the clear.

Then came the lightning…

Damn, Wizard Lizard! This may be a bit unreasonable, but I wish you’d let me kill off your servants without exacting vengeance.

With my Mana Sense flipped on, I can tell the great working is finished now. Garralosh has topped off her core and is heading this way, and the Ka’armodo have enough free attention to weave together another lightning storm. Which is something we do not need!

[I’m jumping off, Tiny!] I shout and leap clear of the big ape the moment I see a chance.

Crinis is frantically waddling through the grass to the side of the road, her basketball-sized body supported on her small, stubby permanent tentacles. It would have been adorable in a situation less fraught with mortal peril.

[Crinis, reach out to me!] I bellow.

As she wiggles and wobbles, Crinis extends a long limb from her main body out to me.

DASH!

Stamina infuses my body, sending me hurtling forward with vital energy. Bursts of flame erupt around me, singeing my carapace as lightning begins to rain down from above.

I focus my sub-brains to their limits, using them to analyse the information from my antennae, the heat I sense from the fire and the blurry lines of the future that are whispered to me. By juking left and right, I do everything I can to throw off the aim of my tormentors as I make my way to Crinis.

[Grab hold!]

My charge takes me close enough that Crinis is able to latch hold of my carapace and begins to haul herself onto me.

[Don’t let go, Crinis!]

[I never will, Master!]

That… didn’t sound right. Never mind it now. We need to get the hell out of here! Once again, time to Dash.

BOOM! BOOM!

The rolling thunder sounds more like an explosion as the strikes land just metres away. Tiny leaps close and is struck multiple times, shrugging it off as best he can as he tanks the lightning magic for me.

Isaac is on the hill, hopping from one foot to the other and shouting at me. I can’t understand, you moron! I’m not about to create a Mind Bridge in the middle of this fiasco! His fellow archers are still dodging the odd fireball and unleashing arrows when they can. It’d be nice if their leader would bother to help out.

With every second that passes, we put another metre between the horde, the mages and us, and before long, it’s becoming easier to dodge and avoid the spells, with the obvious exception of the lightning strikes.

With my Mana Sense on, I keep tabs on the roiling Mana overhead. It really is impressive how much is packed into that spell. All of that energy just for little old me? The Ka’armodo must be more than slightly attached to the slave attendants. I’d feel bad for the Lizard Wizard if they weren’t marching a giant monster along with a giant army toward my home.

No mercy for invaders!

But for now, run to the hills!

Run for your lives!

CRACKLE!

The dark cloud begins to spark and ripple with electricity. The lightning bolts cease for a beat and I can see in my Mana Sense that the power in the spell is condensing into a central point.

Deep within the cloud, a light begins to glow. It grows brighter by the second until it becomes a near-blinding radiance that pierces my eyes. Something big is coming. I’m not a big fan of this.

DAAAAAAAAASH!

With a plop, Crinis hauls herself onto my back after reeling herself in using the tentacle she’d stuck to me, and now she’s clinging on for dear life as I sprint, my legs a blur to my eyes as I cover the ground at high speed.

[Watch out above, Tiny! Get clear of me!]

The bat-faced ape shakes his head and growls angrily, but is forced to obey my direct command and leap to the side, putting some distance between us. Overhead, the cloud shrinks in on itself as the remaining Mana within concentrates down to a single point.

Isaac has collected himself, now with a spear in hand. As a javelin thrower might, he runs forward and with a mighty roar, launches the spear into a high arc that seems to be heading right for me.

Wait a sec… It IS heading right for me. The heck?

HAH!

At the last second, I throw myself to one side, my legs tripping over each other, and I fall as several things happen at once.

The spear punches into the ground right where I’d been running with a reverberating thud, the metal-hafted weapon pushing deep into the ground as the momentum pushes the butt forward until the weapon stands vertically.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Like a lance from the heavens, the lightning falls. Intense light blossomes in an instant, and not for the first time, I wish I had eyelids. This is going to give me some serious retina burn! The impact pierces the ground and sends a shower of earth into the air. So fierce is the force, it ripples through the air and smashes into me, burning me and sending me tumbling end over end, squashing Crinis into my back.

I’ve been cooked! Also, I can’t see…

Not only that, my brains are ringing as if I were a bell that was struck. What the hell was that? Everything’s all white!

[Are you alright, Crinis?]

[I… I think so.]

[Tiny?]

[Raaaah!]

Ok, that’s good.

[Uh, Crinis?]

[Yes, Master?]

[Any chance you can let me know which way is forward?]

[I-I’ll try!]

And we’re off! Standing still is death. Using her ability to sense Mana, Crinis points us away from the horde and we disappear into the distance.