Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [79]
Warian exclaimed, "You can't reach me, can you? That's why you want to remove my arm. I'm outside your control!"
Shaddon laughed, but it was strangely nervous. Both eyes, the flesh and the crystal, darted about as if searching for something, then focused again on Warian. He said, "Something like that. Just as I can command those who are outfitted with my advanced prostheses, I myself am susceptible to influence by a… disagreeable entity I'd rather avoid. Your prosthesis harbors the secret of erecting that barrier. And, by all accounts, it grants you some of the benefits a plangent enjoys."
"If you want my help, I'll give it," said Warian, trying to look into his grandfather's eyes and discern if the man spoke truth. "If you're afraid of something beyond you, let's work together. You don't need to…"
"No. It's far beyond that now. There are other players in this little drama, and they're making a nuisance of themselves. Events have advanced too quickly."
"But…"
"Sevaera! Restrain these two. The arachnids will help. More visitors have arrived!" So saying, Shaddon blurred out of the chamber, moving with the enhanced speed only a plangent could muster.
Warian pleaded, "Aunt, let us go-can't you see Shaddon's corrupted? We need to flee!"
His aunt, still confused and perhaps a bit scared, nevertheless stood her ground. She said, "Don't take me for a fool, youngster. Stay where you are, or…" she trailed off, gesturing to the spiders.
Taking her wave as a cue, two of the monsters rushed forward. The one with the crystal legs jumped at Warian. Before he could do more than widen his eyes, it was on him, sticking to his body with its prosthetic legs. The spider with the crystal mandibles skittered toward Zel, who raised his bent iron bar and called, "Warian-if you can use your arm, do it!"
Sevaera squawked, "Stop! I command it! You spiders-I did not tell you to attack! You stupid, stupid creatures!" The woman stamped her foot, and her crystal implants began to glow. Instead of taking action, she continued to shout at the spiders. The one on Warian responded by squeezing him. The arachnid closing on Zel continued its advance. The final spider turned and began to exude slender strands of crystal webbing.
Warian realized that events had spiraled beyond his aunt's control. He didn't trust her anyway, since she was susceptible to Shaddon's control-or perhaps some deeper, more corrupt entity, if Shaddon could be believed.
Warian focused his mind on his prosthesis.
Violet light took fire in Warian. A miniature sun burned a circuit down his forged arm, awaking it to something better than mere life. Warian grinned, and with the merest flick of his prosthetic finger, propelled his eight-legged attacker off his body and out the open doorway.
He turned. The light in his energized arm was bright-brighter than it had been on the two occasions he'd called its power. He laughed, drunk on the feeling-he was faster and stronger than ever! His power was mounting, not diminishing.
Another theory immediately vied for his attention. Could it be that he was simply draining his life-force more completely each time he called on the artificial limb's hidden gift? Intuition told him that the less agreeable and more deadly explanation was the likely one.
Could he control the effect, he wondered? Could he moderate how much energy his arm pulled from his body and mind? The previous times he'd triggered his ability, he'd been desperate, as he was now. But then, as now, the arm brimmed with so much more strength than he needed. And when the implant dimmed, he felt so horribly drained.
Warian concentrated on dimming the light in his arm, imagining its brilliance damping but not failing completely.
A green and purple haze swirled before him, and a sharp nausea dug into his bowels. His breath heaved, but the radiance of his arm faded without going out.
Immediately, the sounds and movements around