Archive Ch.15

It was a chaotic thing charging the bot.

A delicate balance of moving, dodging, weaving, ducking, and swerving around the many objects filling the air. Stopping for any length of time was a mistake that many things were ready and eager to punish. One book to the face might not be so bad but a half dozen in quick succession would more than do the job of putting them down. Not to mention que them up for a stab from one of the many arms of the thing at the heart of it all.

Nic did his best to follow Jordi’s lead, stumbling along on the same path his companion had just skipped along. Though even the delver couldn’t manage his normal grace, being vexed at every turn by invisible hazards. Gravity most notably had taken a very relaxed approach to applying itself. More than once Nic found himself sliding across the floor or into walls, once even going completely weightless, leaving him twisting briefly in mid-air. It was so unpredictable that even Jordi seemed to be struggling, Nic witnessing him stumbling for the first time since they’d met.

Fortunately, the books seemed no less affected by the anomalies. Their flights were constantly arrested by sudden changes in direction, causing them to veer off course, often crashing into one another in the process. Most were just left swirling about, trying to come around for another strike, only to fall into the exact same trap all over again.

Still, the odds were not stacked in the human’s favor and for every ten misses, a single hit managed to slip through. Nic did his best to blast them aside with bursts of air and pockets of force, but the spell eater ward frustrated every attempt. He might as well have been punching the books for all the range he got, not to mention the amount of energy he had to dump into even the most basic spell just to get it to last. His power cell would be drained in minutes if he wasn’t careful.

Despite all the hazards, they made progress through the maelstrom, working ever closer to the metal beast at its heart. The bot roared its displeasure at them, metal arms striking out in all directions as it pulled more and more books from the shelves. All of them sprang to life, joining their fellows in swirling flight and forming a single mass so thick that Nic couldn’t see anything through to the far side. It loomed over them like a tsunami, hanging just on the crest of falling forward to end the interlopers once and for all.

Before it could crash down, a titanic blast of green light erupted from where Jordi stood. It slammed into the wave, pushing back those books directly ahead of them so violently that several of them were torn apart at the seams. The rest were parted, the wave splitting around them like a flowing tide, so close that Nic would have reached out and touched them.

It persisted for several seconds, the smell of ozone and smoke filling the air, the back of Nic’s neck tingling like it was touching a live wire. Then, suddenly, it was over. The spell ended with a fizzling whimper as its vestiges were consumed by the ward. Part of Jordi’s rig smoked heavily, the delver swiping at his side to douse a flame that was burning there. An object fell from his belt and clanged to the floor, Nic catching sight of a charred metal cylinder that continued to smoke lightly as it rolled away and out of sight.

In a flash Nic put together what he’d just witnessed. Jordi had overloaded his rig to pour far more power into his spell than was needed. Enough that it had managed to briefly overpower the anti-magic field but at the cost of burning out his own rig with the surge. He’d be doing no more casting and, Nic realized in horror, he’d lack any of his own defensive wards. Jordi was now running completely exposed. Nic had no time to dwell on that as a metallic screech drew his attention back to the issue at hand.

The CAT hung low to the ground, its many grasping limbs erupting from its top like a geyser of metal and malice. From this close, Nic could see the similarities to Dewey’s design, including where the cover for the power core sat on its back.

Though seeing it and getting to it were two very different things. The bot seemed to glower at them, a feeling that Nic could only describe as hatred emanating from the eyeless machine. More than just programming, this thing wanted them dead in a way only a truly single-minded being could. Questions upon questions with no answers in sight.

“Go left!” Jordi called. Nic risked a glance at his companion just in time to see him breaking right, moving in a wide arc towards the bot’s flank.

Knowing better than to hesitate, Nic did as instructed, breaking left in a mirrored imitation of Jordi. They quickly spread out, each going at the bot from a different direction, hopefully to confuse or at the very least divide its attention. Neither seemed to occur as the bot lashed out arms at them both, claws sharp and ready to rend whatever they could reach.

Nic’s heart skipped a beat as they fell upon him, several plinking off his wards with enough force that he felt them press down against his body. None made it through thankfully, but the bot gave him no time to celebrate, a veritable forest of steel descending from every direction. In seconds he was ensnared, unable to do anything but continue his panicked dance through a cage of serrated death.

Across the aisle, Nic caught just the faintest glimpse of Jordi fending off similar attack, though his was much a much higher stakes performance. He spun through the strikes like a top, deftly evading certain death with every motion. Though even he could not do so perfectly, Nic seeing several slashes managing to find purchase. The delver walked upon the knife edge, one lucky strike all it would take to end him, and the odds were not in his favor.

Then Jordi did about the last thing Nic had expected. Rather than continue running forward, his companion instead grabbed hold of an arm and let it carry him skywards, just as he’d done many a time with Dewey. The CAT gave another metallic screech, incensed and turning the bulk of its arms towards the task of stabbing its airborne quarry. This proved vastly less effective than a ground target, Jordi having far more dexterity to move in three dimensions than the arms could keep up with. He swung and twisted and leapt, moving deftly from limb to limb, the CAT unable to land so much as a single hit.

It grew so frustrated that it seemed to briefly forget about Nic, limbs retreating to leave the ground relatively clear. Though worried for his friend, Nic was not about to let the opportunity go to waste and he sprinted forward, remembering their one and only goal: get the power core.

He made it surprisingly close before the bot remembered he was there. A trio of arms broke from the nest and stabbed at him, each aiming for a different vital. He sidestepped two of them but wasn’t fast enough for the third, the pointed tip driving into his side, stopped only by the electric crackle of his ward.

Seizing on a sudden, crazy idea, Nic didn’t retreat but instead grabbed the limb, holding on tight as it retracted, pulling him along for the ride. In seconds the remaining distance was closed, Nic suddenly finding himself sitting upon the main body of the CAT itself. It was such a sudden change that Nic was a bit taken aback, not quite knowing what to do with this rather sudden change in circumstance.

That was a mistake as the CAT took both great umbrage to his presence and did not delay in showing it. More limbs descended, Nic barely managing to duck in time, leaving four impacts to scrape along his back, each pressing dangerously close to his flesh. His wards would not be able to take much more of this.

Whether the bot knew this or was simply enraged, the result was the same as more attacks came for him. So close to the last batch, Nic was off balance and unable to effectively dodge, leaving him at the mercy of a dozen glancing hits. One caught him in the leg, wards sparing him injury but still sending him sprawling forward prone against the bot’s body. He hadn’t yet recovered when a limb came from above, striking down like a scorpion, looking more than sufficient to punch through the flagging vestiges of his wards. Nic could do nothing but watch as it came for him.

Jordi chose that moment to re-appear, swinging into the nest of limbs like a swashbuckling hero. Twirling about, he drove a foot into the clawed appendage, throwing it just enough off course that it missed Nic, stabbing into the CAT’s own body instead. The bot howled, turning its full attention to the more acrobatic prey, every clawed limb turning to strike as one.

Jordi responded admirably, swinging clear of dozens of strikes at once, but even his luck had to run out eventually. With a sickening crunch, Nic watched in horror as the first claw got him, slicing a long gash up an arm, eliciting a cry of pain from Jordi. He lost his grip on the arm, falling straight down onto another, the CAT moving quickly to snatch him up and hold him suspended in mid-air.

“No!” Nic cried, moving to do something.

The bot only screeched in reply, tilting its body to throw Nic back onto his front against the bot’s casing. He fought to keep his breath, ears ringing as his face was driven into the bot’s back, so rattled that he didn’t immediately realize he was lying right next to a familiar set of controls. Worn and damaged, but still intact enough for a big silver button to shine like a beacon.

Driven by mad hope, Nic reached out, finding it difficult to control his limbs as he slammed his hand into the controls. It was neither elegant nor precise, his palm pressing a dozen things at once, but thankfully the silver button was amongst them.

Instantly the bot shuddered beneath him, its arms going limp as if they were puppets that had just had their strings cut. With no arms to support it, the CAT fell to the ground, landing with a mighty clang and scattering of books. Nic just barely managed to hang on while Jordi went flying off somewhere further down the aisle. Much as he immediately wanted to help, Nic instead turned his attention to their mission and clambered up the bot to where the power panel sat at the back. Rather than try and find the release, Nic instead drove his heel into the latch, first bending and then breaking the catch with repeated strikes.

He tore it away to reveal the machinery beneath, a deceptively ordinary looking mount with a large cylinder inside. Not even pausing to think, Nic grabbed it with both hands and twisted, relieved to feel it move without resistance, and wrenched it free with all the strength he could muster.

The CAT gave one last warbling shriek before finally, blessedly, it fell still and silent. The books followed suit, a shudder running through the swarm before they all suddenly ceased flapping and fell to the ground with heavy, thudding impacts. It all took less than a minute and then it was over, the silence of the Library reasserting itself over the scene as if nothing had happened at all.

For a moment Nic just sat there, holding the cell in his hands as he let the adrenaline settle. It didn’t last long as the memory of Jordi flying away resurfaced and he scrambled to his feet, looking around for his wounded companion.

He found him some distance away, lying half buried under the books though thankfully already digging himself out. His arm was bleeding lightly and Nic might have been worried by the sight if it weren’t for the wide smile on his face as Nic approached.

“See?” he said. “Told you we’d make a delver out of you.”

*

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