The team clambered over the low barbed wire fence that ran along the edge of the field and crossed the road towards the elf leaning against his vehicle. As they moved forward, Tads moved sideways a little, using the bulk of Hunter to mostly conceal herself and then dropped into astral for a moment, gently probing at his aura, trying to determine his mood and feelings as subtly as she could, without going so deep as to probe his aura or penetrate his masking.
"Calm, collected, confident, with a touch of something else. Not fear…perhaps anticipation? And he's not showing as a mage, or having any magical talent. But don't believe that for a moment – I'm not digging hard enough to try and penetrate any defences he might have," she muttered, moving at an angle so she was completely behind Hunter as she spoke, before emerging the other side and taking up a spot at the other end of the team.
"Good morning to you, too." Ehran said, his accent light and lilting, sounding cultured and highly educated.
"How exactly do we pronounce your first name? Or would you prefer to be called something else? Mr. 'The Scribe' perhaps?"
"Ehran is fine." The accent made it sound slightly longer than it could have done, with the r's rolling slightly. "I hope you're reasonably comfortable and warm. I'd like to wait a little, so I can explain this just the one time, but hopefully we can start soon. Would anyone like any soup?"
"That would be lovely, thank you." Kai smiled, but the team knew him well enough by now to recognise his 'on best behaviour' voice. Tads cleared her throat and attracted their attention.
"Our vehicle isn't too far away. Should we get any equipment from it, if we're waiting for a while?"
"Oh no, you won't need any supplies for this meeting. All will become clear, in time." Ehran moved around to the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the door, reaching in to grab a sleeve of disposable cups before moving back around to the front of the vehicle and pouring out five cups of chicken soup and passing them out to the team. "I'm afraid your last team member will miss out – unless he wants to head over quickly. I'm afraid I can't get this to him back where he is…"
"I'm sure that will be fine." Kai saw Hunter take a sniff of the contents, swirling the cup around to release a waft of flavour. He saw the look of surprise on the ork's face, but then he took a big swig of the hot liquid and smacked his lips. Surprise, but no hesitation in drinking - Kai wondered what that about but was reassured enough to take a sip himself, letting the warm and wholesome broth slide down his gullet. "You seem to keep looking to the east – are you looking for something?"
"More of a someone. They'll be here soon, I'm sure. Just not sure exactly when."
They all sipped at their soup, letting the hot liquid warm their throats and stomachs and looking around the desolate plains and rolling hills for anything of interest, but finding nothing. Back in the tilt-wing, Marius watched what was going on through the sensors on the drone, monitoring the situation and studying Ehran closely. He felt a faint tickle, a gust of wind blowing from the east that set all the hairs on his arms – or rather all the electromagnetic whiskers down the flanks of the craft tingling. He adjusted his sensors, spotting a wall of radar pulses coming his way as multiple craft closed on their position, sanitising the area ahead of them with high energy sweeps.
"I have a target coming from the east, high tech, putting out enough sensor power to keep your soup warm. Intentions unknown – but it is a high-tech craft from the signature I'm getting."
"Excuse me, Ehran – your visitor that you're waiting for. Are they likely to be flying in? In a high-tech aircraft?" Aswon quirked an eye at their host, wondering what kind of answer he'd get.
"That would not surprise me at all, all things considered. And the timing is about right."
"Stand by, stand by. Ok, I have details – we have one tilt-wing class aircraft, coming in low doing about Mach .6, flying straight and level. Above them, way above them, I have three aircraft flying air patrol. Checking details now." The team waited while Marius analysed the signatures, checking the emissions against a database of known aircraft types. "The top cover is three Ares Penetrator Fifteens, top end fighter-interceptor jets. Very powerful targeting suite, air-to-air missiles that are all-weather and all-aspect, vector thrust control surfaces. Very dangerous, and capable of more than Mach 2. The transport coming in is an Ares TR55 Executive I think, but modified. It is longer than all the models I have seen. Approaching now, should be visible."
The team turned to face east, and saw the plane appear over the hills, gliding down gently until it was flying only about thirty metres above the fields, running parallel with the highway. The pilot slowed and turned the craft, transitioning into vertical flight as smoothly as Marius did, and then gently bought the craft down a little way down the road from them, nose facing towards them. Dust rose up from the downdraft, but the pilot slowed the engines quickly, and before the dust had abated the rear door opened, folding down and turning into a set of steps. On either side of the nose was the Ares Macrotechnology logo, picked out in a low contrast colour, identifying the craft as belonging to the mega-corp, not just made by them.
A gun barrel came out of the door, followed by a trooper that rivalled Hunter in physique, clad in dark grey body armour made out of hardened plates attached over a flexible mesh undersuit. Like their own new armour, there was an integrated helmet with respirator, presumably stuffed full of electronic sensors and gadgets. The armour looked heavy, heavier than their own, but the trooper bounded down the stairs, the gyroscopic arm keeping the motion of the gun smooth as they moved. A second trooper emerged after the first, turning left at the bottom of the stairs instead of right as the first one had, moving to the rear of the plane and then dropping to one knee as they surveyed the road to the east.
The third trooper that came out carried a large rifle with a very heavy looking barrel. Aswon squinted a little as he focussed in on the weapon, trying to determine what it was. It had all the looks of the teams fifty-calibre sniper rifle – adjustable stock, free floating barrel, polymer furniture, mounting rails for hardware and a massive and complex looking scope mount, but also looked like it had been down the gym and working out a little, or had been the result of an illicit rendezvous between a sniper rifle and an assault cannon. Aswon estimated it was closer to 18 or 20 milimetres in diameter than his own 12.5mm bore.
The fourth trooper out carried a gun that didn't feature an ammo clip at all, but instead hoses that led up to the backpack worn snugly against the back of the well-muscled operative. The team got a good look at the heavy laser rifle as the trooper clattered down the stairs before disappearing under the fuselage to secure the flanking position. The fifth person out of the plane was clad in the same armour, yet still managed to stalk somehow like a puma closing on its prey through the jungle. As they emerged from the plane and started to descend, Shimazu's eyes were drawn to the twin swords rising from the back scabbards. Each gave a little blip of power as they were grasped by their bearer, revealing them to be individually more powerful than Shimazu's own blade.
"Two medium machine guns on gyro-harness, one sniper, one auto-laser, one melee specialist. No sign of the mage, but I bet they're in the cockpit, shielded by the glass. So who's in the jet?" Aswon vocalised, sending out his thoughts to the rest of the team. His question was answered a moment later when Damien Knight, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Ares Macrotechnology emerged from the doorway, standing up fully and letting his gaze sweep across the environment for a moment before he started to descend down the stairs like a visiting monarch. He was a tall, trim and fit looking man, carrying himself with a military demeanour. His suit was tailored to fit, and no doubt almost as well armoured as his bodyguards was, yet flowed like silk. Behind him a second man emerged from the plane, scurrying down the stairs after Knight. Aswon slipped into the astral to get a read on him, and then almost flinched as the bright strobing static pulse flared and waned over Knight's body. "Ok, some kind of astral static or flare spell, very difficult to see him at all, and it looks like he's got some shielding up on him as well, just the same as from Tads."
Tads glanced into the astral too, finding herself similarly blinded and disorientated by the defensive spell hugging his aura, and nodded her agreement with Aswon. She squinted and concentrated on pushing past the static, focussing on the knowledge that his aura was inside there somewhere, and trying to get a sense of the shifting patterns in the static surrounding him
"Impatient, but curious. Or intrigued. And a sense of novelty. But that's about all I'm getting." She said quietly, watching as Knight and the second man walked over towards their group, the bodyguards forming a loose perimeter around them.
"It's a three hour flight from Detroit - this had better be important." Damien Knight's voice projected power and authority, a slight edge of impatience that indicated that he wasn't used to being kept waiting. Aswon, Hunter and Shimazu twitched unconsciously, recognising the voice of authority from their corporate days, while Kai and Tads felt unmoved by his 'request'.
"It is, but thank you for coming." Ehran responded with a smile, setting down his cup of soup near the thermos and straightening out his clothing.
"I very nearly didn't - I don't like getting involved with this mystic nonsense."
"But here you are. And of course, mystic nonsense can be SO enriching sometimes. It was only sixty seconds, old friend, but what a ride..." Ehran said. For some reason this caused a very sharp look from Knight, which Ehran didn't respond to.
"So why am I here, and who are these people?" Damien raised a hand to gesture at the team, but his gaze stayed fixed upon Ehran.
"I am Aswon!" Nobody on the team was surprised at the outburst, or expected anything less, much as they might have wished for it.
"You're here because we need your help, or will do. And these people? I don't actually know... maybe now is a good time for introductions. But we'll keep it brief, as time is a precious commodity for all of us." Ehran's voice flowed melodically, but he turned his head at the end of the statement and nodded to Kai.
"If we're pushed for time then I'm Kai, and this is Aswon as you already know. We also have Hunter, Shimazu, Tads and further out keeping observation is our remote operator. And if it's any consolation, we don't know why we're here either…" Kai stopped as he saw the man behind Knight stiffen and then lean forwards.
"Excuse me, sir. We have a single contact inbound, from the west. A ground vehicle, old style with a conventional petrol engine. Something called a Volkswagon Camper. Approaching us now at approximately fifty kilometres per hour, only short distance out." The voice was deferential and polite, yet spoke quickly and succinctly, probably making the man Knight's executive assistant or personal secretary of some kind.
"A VW camper? Oh. Well, please let it though. This…. This should be interesting." Damien Knight stared at Ehran for a moment, then gave a tiny shrug.
"You heard him, Oliver. Let it through. But run the plates." The assistant quickly spoke into a microphone built into his suit lapel. Around them the Ares bodyguards fell back slightly, moving to a better position to cover the road from the west. Kai had also been giving Ehran a considering look – he clearly had some kind of idea of who the vehicle might contain or belong to, but wasn't saying anything. He casually shifted position, moving slightly closer to Knight in the process. Aswon saw the bodyguards instantly move, one of them turning his helmeted head to stare at Kai, while several of the other guns oh so casually swung around to aim in his general direction. He could imagine the tactical systems going crazy at the moment as they plotted threat vectors and tried to run their identities down. On the other hand, one of the richest people on the planet, friend to the former President Dunklezhan, head of one of the ten biggest corporations in the world and apparently the UCAS' most eligible bachelor was not likely to have idiots looking after him, or anyone but troops of the very highest quality. As Kai leant in closer, apparently oblivious to the signs of alarm and response from the bodyguards, Aswon shuffled away and moved his hands to make sure they both hung free, clear and empty of anything that might be construed as a weapon.
The van appeared on the western horizon, chugging along towards them over the cracked and potholed black-top surface. The nose was bulbous, with round headlights protruding on either side of the curved front section, while a white bumper across the bottom of the vehicle gave it a derpy smile. It was neither elegant or fashionable, but seemed to have an old-world charm. It was only as it came close and pulled into the side of the road at a slight angle that they could see that it was actually quite long – more in line with a small bus or a limousine than a camping vehicle. The windows had been replaced at some point or modified to include the standard one-way tint, stopping anyone from looking in from the outside, but otherwise it appeared to be a very old vehicle. The Native American Nations were, as a rule, very ecologically conscious, and didn't allow people to use petrol engines in their ground vehicles, so it was curious to see one here, so deep into the Sioux nation.
The passenger door opened and a tall, slender female human emerged. She wore a set of combat trousers and a padded jacket, yet somehow still manage to make it look like a dress straight from the catwalks of Milan. White hair cascaded down her back, held back over her ears with a few subtle pins or clasps, and the light caught on her discreet jewellery, flashing off of the ornate ring on one hand and bracelet on the opposite wrist.
"Are you coming?" she said, addressing whoever was in the driver's seat of the vehicle. She waited a moment before continuing. "Well, I'm going to go and say hello at least." Turning, she started to walk towards the group of people, a brilliant smile creeping over her features. With a graceful but happy wave, she greeted Ehran, then turned her attention towards Damien Knight, giving him a polite and courteous nod, before letting her gaze sweep over the rest of the people standing around, probably assuming that the team were here carrying out the same role as the Ares Troopers guarding Knight.
The driver's door opened, and the Ares team shifted a little, moving to a better position where they could spring into action against the new target, while getting ready to defend Knight. A moment later, a pair of snake-skin boots appeared under the door sill as the driver swung out both of their legs, stretching somewhat and then recovering. They stood, the top of their head barely showing above the door, a thick mane of red hair pulled back into a ponytail. A step, then two, rounding the door, revealing an elf wearing a long brown duster, swirling in the wind and revealing a pair of faded blue jeans and a black t-shirt with a logo showing a single white beam of light splitting through a prism into a rainbow of colours. His face was painted white, with two bright red diamonds painted over the eyes, and his mouth was twisted into a wry grimace.
"Holy fuck, it's Harlequin." Kai exclaimed, drawing some looks from the others.
"Who?" asked Aswon, with Hunter looking equally confused. Tads had entirely given up at this point – apparently this Damien chap was quite important, and now this newcomer seemed to have Kai genuinely worried about something for some reason as if he was someone notable as well.
"Never mind. Look, big time art collector – French revolution and Scottish Reformation are his favourite periods. Has some real fancy pictures. But also has a reputation for being weird as all hell."
"No. No! NO! Absolutely not. I'm not doing it!" Harlequin pointed at Ehran, his finger pointed straight at his face, quivering slightly. "NOT! Do you hear me?"
"All you have to do is talk to him. You're not afraid of him, are you?" his companion asked, turning to look back over her shoulder at him as she came to a halt, half-way between them.
"Don't try to manipulate me, child. You think I can't see through your feeble attempts to tickle my pride or challenge my position. And I'm still not doing it."
"Fine - well I'LL go talk to him then and show him that at least one of us is an adult." She turned back towards them and started to move again, striding confidently towards them. "Hello Ehran. Mr. Knight, and friends." She nodded, and seemed to include the team with her gesture. Ehran gave her a warm smile while Damian Knight nodded at her politely and returned her greeting in a more neutral tone. "Sorry about him. He's being a bit difficult at the moment."
"I can hear you, you know? And I'm not being difficult. I FIXED that. Can it not just stay FIXED?" Exasperation sounded in his voice, along with something more raw and visceral.
"Apparently not. The enemy moves, for some reason, sooner than we expected." Ehran had turned to face him, and the smile at seeing the female had faded from his face. "It was unexpected and unwelcome, I assure you."
"Well I'm not fixing it. I'm done. You hear me? Done! They don't understand, they don't care. Feeble little ants, scurrying around, never wondering about the consequences, never seeing the bigger picture. Small-minded petty beings full of their own self-importance and schemes."
"Maybe because they don't understand the consequences, because some people never give them a straight answer and act all mysterious and holier than thou!" The woman added hotly, turning back to face Harlequin.
"Maybe because they're childish and don't understand the magnitude of what they're dealing with, and they don't deserve to be spoonfed the answers."
"I feel you are correct in this." Ehran commented…
"And I don't need your support either!"
"Will both of you stop bickering! Honestly, you're as bad as each other!" This caused noises of distress from both Ehran and Harlequin, who apparently felt that this was a scurrilous and unfair smirch on their characters.
"Should we have bought chairs and popcorn?" Tads muttered, her head swivelling back and forth between them as they bickered. Hunter grinned, then looked over at the bodyguards, finding one that was looking in his direction and then stared at him for a moment, before reaching into his coat pocket with careful exaggerated movements, pulling out a chocolate bar between thumb and forefinger, then proceeded to unwrap it and stuff half of it into his mouth in one go.
"Not sure what they're talking about, Aswon… but did we break it? No? Good." Kai too was watching the interplay, but leant over to talk quietly to Aswon for a moment. "I'm not sure quite why we're here."
"Indeed. I have no time for this. Or intention to put up with petty insults," Damien Knight interjected for the first time. He pointed a finger at Harlequin, "No matter how small minded and petty I am."
"Well, neither do I. And you can't make me!" Harlequin folded his arms defiantly, his body language radiating obvious hostility and intractability. Several of the bodyguards were moving now, adjusting their stances and widening their feet as if they expected this to turn into something more than a heated conversation very soon.
"You are SUCH a child sometimes." The woman's voice was cold and flat, anger rippling through her tone as she enunciated each word carefully. Harlequin placed a hand over his heart as if he had been wounded, and closed his eyes for a moment as if to signify his death from the jibe. This seemed to incense the woman, and she quickly raised her hand and bought it slashing down to strike his face, her flat palm slapping him on the left side of his face, smearing the face paint slightly and sending out a crack of flesh-on-flesh that rang across the plain like a gunshot.
"How DARE you!" The voice rose, wobbling slightly as if it hadn't been used for a while. How dare you strike me!" The voice was stronger this time, resonating deeply in a way that reminded the team of Kai when he was trying to influence someone. They saw Harlequins lips pull back, revealing his teeth. "What gives you the right…?" The last words came out slowly and clearly, low and reverberating with power. Nothing moved physically, but somehow Harlequin seemed to grow. Not upwards, or outwards, but just in presence. None of them could really describe it, but somehow he felt more 'real', as if he'd just been a washed-out copy beforehand, but now they were looking at an original image. Several of the team felt their hair stand on end down their arms and across the back of their neck, and Shimazu flicked into astral space for a moment to check on the situation there.
For just a moment, Harlequin's masking slipped as his fury took over. For a moment he was concentrated entirely on focussing his attention on the woman who had struck him, and his true self was visible. Shimazu swallowed, and didn't even realise that he'd taken half a step back. The elf's aura was bright, shining like a beacon. Cold, white, like a field of broken ice that had smashed and been ground by the weather into a mass of broken shards then frozen back together into a dangerous and volatile creation. Shimazu knew that over the last year his power had grown exponentially. He was more skilled now than any of his instructors back home, any of the masters he had studied under at the bodyguarding academy. He knew things he couldn't have even dreamt of a few years ago, had seen things, strange creatures and events that he wouldn't have imagined. He was individually more powerful than he had thought possible, his command over his body allowing him to perform what most would see was super-human activities.
And he was like a spark, compared to a bonfire. Harlequin blazed with power, radiating strength and dangerous energy all around him. His aura was strong, stronger than Shimazu had ever encountered. While Shimazu felt that he was perhaps six or seven times more powerful than someone who had only just unlocked their own magical potential, he felt like he was less than a tenth as strong as the being that stood before him. Maybe as little as a twentieth. Shimazu felt humbled for a moment, understanding that he was in the presence of some creature that defied what he thought was possible, and his brain rushed with energy as it tried to readjust to new knowledge. He knew, with utter certainty that should he ever attack this elf, that he would die if his opponent wished, or be humbled and sent packing with his tail between his legs. He couldn't imagine any other alternative now, where if he'd been asked a few minutes before, he would have said the odds were on his side in any kind of confrontation.
The glowing, pulsating, brightness of the aura faded, replaced with that of a weary man wearing blood-splattered medieval armour, face covered in gore and mud, exhausted from battle, dragging a sword behind him. A man defeated, tired, who just wanted to curl up and stop, to watch the world burn around him because he could fight no more. Shimazu blinked, and then saw the plain aura of the elf again as he regained control of his emotions and his mental shields slammed shut with absolute control once more.
He looked around and saw the bodyguards now all had their weapons pointing at the painted elf – and despite the impressive array of firepower, that previously he would have thought of as overwhelming – now he wouldn't want to be on their side. He genuinely wondered just what it would take to extinguish a soul that burned that bright, a power that strong. He glanced over at Ehran and saw the elf looking sad, rubbing at one temple with his fingers and his casual demeanour had faded away to that of someone with a lot of troubles on his mind.
"You're going to need some more chicken soup, I think," Kai quipped, smiling with the imperviousness of a man who'd realised that none of this was his responsibility or his fault, and enjoying the experience.
"How dare you stand by and do nothing. How dare you live in a bottle, sitting in your chair staring out of the window, day after day, watching the world go slowly to hell. How. Dare. YOU! Is this the training you promised me? Is this what I should aspire to? What I am to become?" The woman jabbed at Harlequin in his chest, and with every exclamation she pressed again. Harlequin had his eyes locked upon her, but Ehran winced with every poke, every goad. Harlequin finally seemed to want to speak, but the woman moved her hand up, waving a finger under his nose, quivering with rage. "You disgust me... more than that, you... disappoint me. I'll be in the car."
She flounced off, not looking back behind her. Harlequin turned to watch her go, eyes following her angry stalk for a few seconds, then swivelled round to face everyone else. Rubbing at his cheek a little, there seemed to be a faint glimmer in the eye, a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth for the first time since they met him. As if someone has just stoked a fireplace, and found a tiny little ember, then blown on it.
"Feisty. I like it." There seemed to be a tiny edge of glee to his voice, as if he was looking forward to an argument or even a fight. "I'm still not helping though. Not this time. It's your turn, chal'han." He pointed a finger at Ehran, then turned it into a finger-gun, 'fired' and then holstered his hand in his pocket, before turning and striding off after the woman who'd made it back to the camper van and climbed aboard, slamming the door behind her. He started off after her, angling slightly towards the other side of the vehicle. Tads looked around at everyone else who seemed either stunned by what had happened, or unwilling to say anything. She raised her voice and called after him.
"Oi! You with the makeup! Hey!"
"What?" He turned and looked at her, but continued to walk backwards towards the vehicle."
"Look – we've got a horror to fight. A creature from some horrible realm of magic that wants to rip this world apart and dominate people, turning them into slaves! We've fought it once, and we thought we'd trapped it, but now it's free. And we think it's going to be here. And we need to fight it and defeat it!"
"Jolly good. Get on with it then." He stopped, then gave a small formal bow to them, one hand sweeping his coat across his body and he bent at the waist to them, then he pulled open the door and climbed into the camper, the engine starting almost immediately. The team watched as the camper carefully turned around on the wide two lane highway, then accelerated back to the west, heading for Pine Ridge.
"What was that about?" Knight asked, looking squarely at Ehran.
"Old business, that should have been concluded. But apparently not. But now you understand the magnitude of what we're dealing with. So, I need to call in that marker."
"Marker? I don't have a marker, not with you." Knight frowned at Ehran, who just raised an eyebrow, then pulled out an envelope from a pocket, causing the bodyguards to swing their weapons around to aim at him once more. Shimazu and Hunter winced, wondering if Ehran realised just how on-edge the Ares team were looking as all manner of strange things happened around their boss, most of which didn't make sense. Ehran opened the envelope and fanned out a bunch of pictures, which seemed to show a series of dark red triangles on a lighter red background.
"So, the research I have on exactly what these structures are, what they represent and how certain agencies discovered them just before they..."
"Oh, that marker. Sure. So what do you need?" The u-turn was smooth, and fast enough that some of the team got whiplash. But whatever the triangles represented it was clearly something important to Knight.
"If what is going to happen here is what I expect, then this area is going to see an interesting twenty-four hours - but you should not be involved in that, at all. But I believe that one of the people here, well… remotely monitoring from someone nearby to be precise, but here in a general sense - could benefit greatly from some of your latest work. Particularly the work on the Genesis Vehicle." Knight spluttered in shock and his assistant blanched white.
"How do you know about... never mind." He frowned and turned to his minion. "We need to evaluate our personnel and security arrangements, it seems. Give them a contact card, though. If they survive whatever is going on here, they can head to Detroit sometime and give us a call."
Oliver moved forwards, pulling out a business card, looking a little confused as Kai did the same and swapped them over.
"We move things from place to place. Just in case you ever need something with no questions asked." Kai glanced at the team out of the corner of his eye, and decided to not press things too far. "We'll offer you a very competitive rate as well, seeing as we're all friends now…"
"Thank you. And the other part of this is much more time sensitive. I would like you to call someone, and see if you can - persuade them to carry out something. The details are here." Ehran reached into his pocket once more and pulled out a flimsy sheet of plasti-paper, which he passed over to Knight. It didn't take long for him to scan the contents and snort.
"Don't want much do you? Well, that's going to make the news... but I'm sure we can negotiate on something. They're after some new LAVs anyway. I'm not promising, but I'll see what I can do. And the pictures?" He gestured towards Ehran's hand. The pictures spontaneously combusted, charring and dropping ash all over the road, while the elf's hand seemed unharmed.
"What pictures?"
"Ok. I'm on it. But now I have to get back." He turned to examine the team, giving them a hard stare, committing them to memory. "Call me sometime then, assuming you survive." He turned and made a circling gesture with his hand, then started to walk towards the tilt-wing. The whine of the starter compressor kicked in, but they could just make out his voice over the engine startup sequence. "Ok, Captain, wheels up in two. Oliver, get on the phone and call SecDef, tell him I need a few minutes of his time on a matter that's time-critical, but that will enhance the security of the UCAS. I can talk on the plane if he can speak in the next two hours." He strode to the plane quickly as the rotors started to move, engines building up power. The bodyguard team collapsed in around him, forming a circle and escorting him to the foot of the stairs, then letting him precede them while they checked the outer perimeter one last time, before boarding in reverse order to the one they'd disembarked in.
"Discreet deliveries, anytime, give us a call, Oliver!" Kai yelled, a broad smile on his face.
The engines spooled up quickly, and the tilt-wing rolled backwards a little away from them, then rose sharply, climbing up into the sky in a spiral, before accelerating quickly to the north west. Overhead, Marius saw the fighter escorts break off from their broad circles and form up on the VIP transport, dropping back into positions around it – one a few kilometres ahead, one just off the starboard side and one trailing behind and on the port side.
"Hey! Detroit is the other way!" Hunter pointed to the east, then grinned at his own 'humour' – after all, none of the others would...
"Well. That could have gone better – but it could have been worse. At least I have hopes that Knight will come through for us. But as to your part to play in this – I believe you will need to be up at the memorial tomorrow morning, at around ten. I would advise your last team member to be there in person as well – it is likely that the conditions will be bizarre, and his control over his machines will be much diminished by the environment. And quite frankly, I think you will need all the help you can get."
"You know we're none the wiser now than when we got here, don't you?" Aswon exclaimed, and edge of exasperation to his voice.
"Well, you aren't." Ehran looked at Aswon for a moment, wondering if he needed to explain further, but the look of annoyance told him that Aswon had worked it out. "I'll see you tomorrow. I'm going to try and get some additional help. Don't let it get to the monument, oh – and one very important thing. Do NOT let it touch you. Not at all." He turned and gathered up the empty cups and the thermos, stacking his trash together and dropping it into a bag and then putting everything back in the car. As the team slid out of the way, he started up and drove east, accelerating quickly and silently as the electric motors ramped up. A few metres down the road a couple of very powerful nature spirits appeared, sitting on the roof of the car, and as they watched one of them extended its powers over the vehicle guarding it from harm, while another used a different power to send the car rocketing away at a vastly increased speed. Then the car faded into the background as the last spirit concealed it from view. They could just about spot it if they concentrated really hard, but the second they relaxed it disappeared from view.
Tads turned round and wandered over to where Ehran had been standing, trying to match his position to when the photographs had gone up in flames. Positioning her hand as close as she could to where his had been, she checked in the astral, searching for the traces of his spell. She was pretty sure he hadn't had time or the inclination to cleanse his signature away, and she carefully poked at astral space, demanding it give up its secrets to her. It took more effort than she would have thought probable, but she finally found a faint trace of his spell, and spent a moment studying it, trying to learn his signature and gain a magical fingerprint for him. She wasn't sure what she was going to get from this – but it wasn't going to be often she'd get a chance, she figured. And the others did seem to think he was someone very important indeed. Well, she mused, there was one way to figure that out…
"So who exactly were all those people, in terms I can understand?"
"Damian Knight is the head of Ares Macrotechnology. Ares is a triple-A corp, the biggest and most powerful corporate entities on the planet. And off it, really. They're huge sprawling affairs, that make and do…well, everything. For instance, Ares owns a company called Knight Errant – they supply the police force for entire cities in some places, as well as security for hundreds if not thousands of other companies all over the place. They have people living on space stations in orbit, flying around above us. They own weapons companies that make things like Hunter's rifle. They're huge – and that makes Damien Knight not only fantastically wealthy, but also incredibly powerful. He used to play chess with a Great Dragon, according to a story I read about him – and he won sometimes. And he knows the President of the UCAS. So, the chances of us ever meeting him again are probably slim to none. But I would have said the chances of us ever meeting him at all were none, before today… so that just goes to show." Aswon shrugged. What else could he do?
"Harlequin is a weird one. There are lots of rumours about him floating around. Like I said, I heard about him on the art scene, where he's bought and sold some pieces of art for crazy amounts of money. But there's all kinds of rumours around him too – some really weird stuff that's clearly rubbish, like he's hundreds of years old or has lived for ever, but some stuff is harder to pin down. We think he's actually lived in Scotland and France, but travelled all over, and he seems to have really exotic tastes." Kai stared off down the road to the west. "No idea who the young woman was, though. She seemed to know Ehran and Knight, and was clearly working with or for Harlequin."
"She seemed to have the measure of him, that was for sure. Managed to get him properly angry too. Did you see the way the bodyguards reacted?" Aswon gave a little shudder. "I was pretty sure he was about to get drilled – they were so close to just unloading on him."
"I think you're not giving them enough credit," Hunter interjected. "That was an Ares Firewatch team if I'm not mistaken, and they're pretty much the best Ares have to offer. Crazy amounts of training, top-end nanotech designed armour and some of the best weapons ever designed. But I think they'd have been ready to go, but wouldn't twitch unless something actually threatened their boss."
"Does anyone know what this reference was to the Genesis thing was? It seemed to freak the Ares guys out a little when Ehran mentioned it."
"He seemed to think it was something to do with Marius. Some kind of vehicle?" Tads offered.
"Something to follow up on, if we're ever in Detroit. I'm not even sure where that is, to be honest – but presumably it's a few hours flight from here. Either way, it doesn't seem relevant to today."
"I'm guessing Marius won't know either. From the reactions, nobody was supposed to know what it is." They heard Marius grunt dismissively, confirming her supposition.
"I'll take your word about the guy with the painted face Kai, but it all seems very odd. I've not heard of him before, but when she slapped him, he seemed to change. I don't know why, but he was pretty intimidating, for a guy just standing there on his own."
"He was more powerful than anyone else I've ever seen." Shimazu said quietly. That made them stop and think for a moment, standing on the windswept road staring out to the horizon. After all, they'd all stood on a mountain in Iraq, face to face with a Great Dragon. A Great Dragon who had all but obliterated the former capital city of Tehran to prove a point to a nation that declaring war upon the awakened people of the world was a bad idea. And now Shimazu seemed to think that he'd met someone more powerful than that?
They headed back to the tilt-wing, meeting up with Marius and reviewed the drone footage, playing through the encounter again and watching the birds-eye view, studying what had happened between them, looking for clues as to what was really going on – but ending up without any real additional information. Instead they checked over their gear again, and got some more practice with the armour, running up and down by the side of the lake, practicing their bounding overwatch and movement skills while Aswon coached them, getting more time working together as a team to cover and protect each other.
In the afternoon they relocated, taking the tilt-wing on the short ten kilometre journey north to the memorial site. Flying overhead they saw the tiny village to the west, the graveyard atop the gentle ridge, the memorial site itself set back just off the trail with a large gravelled area for people to stop in and pay their respects. Marius looked around and found a small spinney of trees about half a kilometre to the east that he could set down in, giving them reasonable concealment and protection. Hunter checked the weather forecast and saw the following day was scheduled to be clear, dry and cold, with a strong wind blowing from the north west – so visibility was likely to be good and the ground firm. They also quietly discussed what to do with Maisie, and in the end Kai decided they had to just talk to her and tell her what was coming up.
They sat her down near the tilt-wing and Aswon told her a tale, explaining in general terms how they had found the temple and the demonic creature imprisoned within, how it had people captive that needed rescuing and the nature of the fight deep underground. He left out details that weren't strictly relevant, and didn't identify the other team, but the main part of the story covered all of the details that were really pertinent. Maisie listened quietly, eyes fixed upon Aswon as he told the tale while the rest of the team sat and remembered the experience they'd gone though. When he was done, Kai turned to Maisie and spoke to her quietly.
"Do you want to help save the world? This thing… whatever it is, we don't really know. But we know it's evil. A powerful entity from somewhere else. It threatens everything we know. It's had help – from someone, we're not sure who. But someone dug it out of the temple, and helped set it free. Something is due to happen tomorrow, something powerful – we don't know what, but it's got some people worried. So we're going to try and stop it. And it's happening here, for whatever reason. At the memorial. Your people have suffered, we know that. But it's nothing compared to what will happen if this thing wins. So we're going to try and stop it. But you don't have to help. So we're letting you know what's going on. The question is – do you want to help, and if you do… what can you do to help? Can you contact your tribal elders or whatever, and get someone here to fight with us?"
"It's not a fight… it's a war. You're getting ready for a war." Maisie exclaimed flatly. "That's why you wanted the armour and guns and things. I feel a little unprepared."
"Let's see what you have." Kai and the rest watched as she grabbed her bag and kit, and laid it out. Along with her throwing tomahawks, there was a much more serious looking axe, a knife and a traditional horn and wood bow. Kai examined the bow with interest and appreciation, but then laid it down carefully with her gear.
"From the looks of things, you don't have a weapon that can really harm the creature. Certainly we struggled the first time we met it – bullets and knives bouncing off of it. Shimazu's sword now – well, I'm counting on it not liking that. Or Tad's stick. And the other guns should slow it down – but I don't think your weapons will. So, you might not want to be involved."
"I will help you fight – this thing is a danger to us all, and my people will not stand by. But even if I could find my elders in time, and told them this tale – I'm not sure they would believe me. Would you, if someone told it to you?" Kai shook his head sadly. "But I will help. I can carry things perhaps, bring you ammunition. Or watch for enemies from the rear. I will do what I can. And perhaps I can hurt the creatures or people who set it free, or who are trying to stop you getting to it."
"So you're in then? You understand that you may be getting into something that gets you killed?"
"Yes. I will not run from this."
"Welcome aboard. Just remember – don't let it touch you. Not sure why, but Ehran was very clear about that."
They practiced, trained and drilled, using up the rest of the day as wisely as they could and getting prepared. That night Tads prepared a variety of ingredients, creating foods from all around the world that they'd encountered on their travels and they ate well before setting their watch schedules and resting for the night. Breakfast the next morning was a more subdued affair, and the morning run was quiet and somewhat introspective, each of the team wondering what the day was going to bring them.
By nine in the morning they were ready, and they walked the five hundred metres to the monument, laden down with gear. Each of the team was in their full armour, helmets detached for the moment as they sniffed at the air and looked around them. Marius had his remote control deck with him, and had his heavy combat drone rolling alongside him, laden down with ammo and equipment, the wide tracks leaving a trail through the dew-laden grass behind it, while their heavy footsteps left six identical trails in a line abreast alongside it.
As they emerged from the woods at the edge of the valley they could see that the monument was deserted, no sign of the traders and locals that had been there peddling their souvenirs the previous day. Kai looked around and then raised an eyebrow at Maisie.
"It's the day of the massacre. Most people will be at home, praying and making offerings to the ancestors. At around lunch time there will be a meal of remembrance, then people will gather. At least, that's what I remember."
"Good. That means there's no civilians around to spot us, I suppose. Or get in the way." He looked around at the rest of the team, laden down with grenade launchers, machine guns, spell foci and all manner of other highly illegal gear. "Which is probably good, on reflection. Hey Tads – what are we going to be like for spirits here? Can we use them?"
"I summoned my usual mix of spirits this morning back at the tilt-wing, and they all seemed to answer my call. Everyone has their own personal guardian, as usual, which should do as you ask. If they answer your call, they're here to help you." She dropped into astral and looked around for a moment, then spoke in the faintly distracted voice she commonly used while she was trying to do two things on separate planes of reality at the same time. "Everything looks normal, I think. Maybe it feels a little sadder here today, but that could be my imagination. Maybe it's not, though…"
They continued to walk towards the memorial, but stopped when they saw a figure appear over the ridge line to the north, walking along the trail. They were not alone, and another figure appeared, then two more, and yet more after that. They lost count as a jumble of people appeared, moving in a knot, walking slowly down the road towards the memorial, too. Maisie grabbed her binoculars and focussed up on the crowd and they heard her gasp.
"They're shaman, senior shaman too. I can see a few from the Sioux tribe, in full headdresses. That's a Crow, and there's a Navaho. No – two Navaho. Hidatsa, Arapaho, Cree… Palins Chippewa. Blackfoot, Apache. Cheyenne. Mohawk. That's…. that's at least one shaman from each of the tribes that makes up our nation. And each has a brave with them – a young warrior sworn to them."
"Are they going to try another Ghost Dance?" Aswon mused. "Though I would have though they'd need more than just one nation. What are they doing here?"
"And look at the figure at the front." Kai adjusted the focus on his own binoculars, focussing on the slightly familiar looking face at the front. Dressed in traditional tribal deerskins, Ehran walked with the shaman, leading the way down the road – except it wasn't Ehran. At least not the way they'd seen him yesterday. His cheeks were reshaped, his nose a little different, the size of his neck subtly off. What it did look like though was the spitting image of Daniel Howling Coyote, the Indian that had rallied the tribes and led them out of the re-education camps and relocation centres they'd been imprisoned in during the last days of the United States. The man who'd led the Great Ghost Dance, blowing the tops off of a dozen mountains and proving in a way that not even the most hardened of sceptics could argue with that magic had returned to the world, and the native people had plenty of mojo – and the white man had none. It had been his actions that had reshaped the North American continent, forming the NAN and driving the US back to the east coast to collapse and then form the UCAS. And he'd disappeared not long after the Sovereign Tribal Council had started to mediate between the native nations, discovering that in the absence of a binding threat from the outside, that tribal differences and human nature would still prove to be just as debilitating to the natives as it had to every other culture.
But now he was here, leading a team of eighteen shaman down the road, eighteen braves attending to their safety.
"Maisie – perhaps there is a new task for you here. While we do whatever we end up doing, perhaps you should be with these people, trying to keep them safe. Or acting as our liaison to them." Maisie nodded silently, still boggling as the senior shaman of the various tribes wandered down to meet them.
Both groups moved towards the monument, closing on it from their different directions to meet at the gravelled area. As they entered though, both stopped and paused, hit at the same time by a feeling of revulsion and fear. The team felt as if they'd been punched in the gut by an icicle, a cold numbing sensation washing over them, filling them with a sense of revulsion and dread. Above them the sky darkened, and the clear air started to cloud over, moisture forming into streaks of coloured cloud that whipped around into a spiral, forming a vortex that stretched up kilometres into the air. The entire team stopped, retching and gasping for breath. Hunter flicked over to his internal air tank for a moment, but it didn't help at all – whatever was happening was some form of reaction from his body, not an external agent in the air.
Each of them struggled to overcome the effect, fighting against the malaise that tried to cripple them. Slowly they regained their composure, and seeing the shamans similarly fighting against the effect and continuing their approach, they did too. Aswon looked over and saw the shaman signing to each other, and caught their hands flicking with fluidity and grace, sending a message to Ehran.
[Mountain Thunder? Are these the outsiders or the enemy?]
[The outsiders – they are here to help. They are not your foe.]
The shaman moved onto the gravelled area and formed a circle, then as one, sat cross-legged, facing each other and began to unpack their bags. Pipes and bowls were filled with tobacco and various herbal mixtures, as they all moved in eerie silence, while their braves stood guard overhead, axes or bows in hand, ready to attack any that would threaten their charges. The team moved over, stomachs still churning and feeling their chests still tight and constrained, then looked over the valley which had taken on a darker and more threatening aspect under the twisting maelstrom of clouds and actinic bursts of lightning. Tads had a quick sniff of the materials in the bowls as they were lit and moved away, sharing a knowing look with Hunter. It wasn't quite the same as the Wolf tribe had used when the team had been captured, but it was probably close enough – and the last thing they needed at the moment was to be affected by some strange magical compound. They shuffled the team away, moving upwind towards the road, and formed a line abreast to stare down the valley.
"Those shaman - Wind Biter, Snow Soother, Sun Dancer, Plains Walker… they're all some of the most respected tribal shaman I've heard about" Maisie seemed to be wobbling between awestruck and terrified. "I don't know the others, but looking at how they are dressed and treated by each other, I would guess they are their equals from the other tribes. I don't know what's going on here, but if these people can't help you, then I don't know who amongst us can."
"Alright, listen up folks – tactically, we should be spread out around these shaman, looking to protect them from whatever is going to come and stop them from doing their ritual – because unless they are here to do some ritual, there's just no reason for them to be here. But I just know… just KNOW that whatever is gonna happen is coming from the direction of the valley and the graveyard. It doesn't make tactical sense, but it DOES make perfect historical sense. Whatever evil there is going to be wrought is going to be making a beeline straight up here from over by that rise, and we need to set ourselves up in the way."
"Are you sure, Aswon?"
"Enough to stake my life on it, Hunter." He stabbed the spear into the soft earth next to him, hard enough to make it quiver and stand upright unaided, then unlimbered his rifle and made sure there was a round in the chamber. "Legends and stories of the time before, people battling dragons and great evils. They weren't made up. Well not entirely – they were based on old tales, legends handed down and embellished over time. But those stories all have a grain of truth in them. And with what happened here, the massacre of the Sioux people… that's what's going to be guiding the enemy. I'm sure of it." Overhead the sky continued to swirl, the clouds thickening and starting to glow a sickly and unhealthy shade of green. A pulse of magic rolled down the valley, washing over them, through them and then fading away. Another came, then another. The pulses grew stronger and stronger, reminding them of the pulses of magic that had signified the conjunction in Yakut when they had been harvesting the magical plant for Ludmilla. Tension rose and they could feel the magical potential in the air, rising up and up, the area no longer a mana ebb but a wildly coursing river of magic that tumbled and flowed through the area.
A blast of lightning without apparent source blasted down out of the sky and struck a tomb in the graveyard, and another wave of sickly and putrid feelings washed over them. This time though it seemed to take a part of them with it, leaving them feeling hollow and somewhat empty, diminished somehow.
A figure appeared over the low rise, shambling up the slope towards them. Alongside it more heads appeared, stretching out left and right, an entire army of people shuffling through the dim green light as they laboured up the slope. The figures didn't move quickly, and the team checked through scopes, optics and sensors to see what was going on – but it took them a few moments to process what they saw. The people varied wildly in size, shape and description, a mass of colours and styles that initially just confused the eye. A bus driver here, a tour guide there. A cop, a fireman, a businessman and a kindergarten teacher. Nurses, hairdressers, engineers, street sweepers – in a range of clothes that stretched from the strict regime of Iran and Iraq, through the middle east and all across western Europe. It was as if someone had snatched up a thousand different people going about their normal work, then drugged them and put them all together – but in their hands were a wide assortment of knives, clubs, cudgels, swords and other melee weapons. And in the other hand, at least four out of every five carried a gun of some kind. Some had shotguns, ranging from the kind of thing a ganger would make himself from drainage pipe, all the way through to riot guns, from machine pistols to battle rifles.
The mismatched army advanced upon them, silent and determined, shuffling their way up the hill, in a rolling mass of flesh. Most of them were human, but some metahumans were scattered amongst them, massive trolls in overalls carrying enormous scythes or beams of construction equipment, broad shouldered orks with shovels or spears.
"They look like just normal people? What do they want?" Shimazu scanned up and down the line as they shambled closer. Aswon raised the rifle to his shoulder and sighted through the scope, examining the emotionless faces as they staggered forwards.
"Their eyes are pure white, all of them. No expression, no understanding. I think they're being magically compelled to do this. I don't like the idea of killing them, they've got no idea what's going on."
"Are we going to have any choice?" Marius flicked the safety off on the grenade launcher, got the range and then elevated the weapon slightly to get ready to fire. "I agree, but if they come at us with those weapons, we have a simple choice. Them or us."
Tads stepped forward, making sure that everyone was behind her and gathered her strength. The wild stream of magic made harnessing the strands of mana more difficult than usual, but she pulled together energy for a blast of stunning energy, and sent it towards one end of the line, seeing if she could stun part of the enemy force. The blast appeared, but was weak and without impact, robbed of power by the fluctuating magic in the area. The ball of energy washed over the crowd, shaking them and making some of them stagger, but leaving none with any injuries or issues.
"I'm not sure my magic is the answer here!"
"I know what is. Fire!" Marius squeezed the trigger and shot a grenade towards the mob of people, neatly laying the concussive round down in the centre of a mob. The blast threw people around, sending them flying through the air in an ungainly fashion. Those closest to the blast suffered burns and blast damage, stripping flesh and sending blood flying, while those further away were just knocked down like pins on a bowling alley. But, a moment later, they all rose. All of them, those with strips of tattered flesh hanging down, those leaking blood. And as they watched, the skin seemed to reform, growing whole again as unnatural magic coursed through their vein.
"Shit." Marius ejected the rest of the clip, letting it fall and grabbing the improved explosive stack, ramming it home and cocking the handle. Adjusting the aim downwards a little, he switched fire mode and sent a three round string of grenades flying downrange. A second later they detonated and the blast rippled through the mass of flesh that wended its way towards them. Limbs were torn off, bodies shattered and ripped apart, blood sprayed out in a violent fountain as a wall of metal fragments slashed through the bodies. A handful went down, the bodies devastated by the blast, but the press of bodies pushed on. As the fiery blast dissipated, they saw the ripped bodies on the floor, crawling forward, struggling to their feet. Not all of them, some did lay still… but it was not enough.
The drone opened fire, the heavy machine gun pumping out rounds at maximum fire rate while the mount slewed to one side in a smooth motion. The heavy rounds punched through bodies, knocking them back and striking through into a second or even third row in places. But the bodies pressed on.
Aswon started with rounds to the shoulders, seeking to disable rather than kill. At least for the first few seconds, until it became clear that his rounds were having minimal effect, and the enemy kept coming. Hating what he was doing he adjusted aim, sending round after round into the forehead, the long necked bullets shattering skulls and destroying the brain stem as he serviced targets one by one, keeping up a steady rate of fire. Most of his targets went down, but at least half got back up, despite the grievous wounds he caused, and seeing the lolling face staggering towards him despite the back of their face being blown off was as terrifying scene as Aswon had ever expected to see.
The rest of the team opened up, sending fire across the slope, slamming into the wall of animated flesh that had once been people, driving it back but not stopping it. The pressure behind the front line kept them coming, driven onwards by some calculating evil force behind, the bodies driven onwards to strike at them.
"What about gas? I've got that canister of Neurostun, still with a load left. Can we throw that?"
"Too far! And the wind is blowing the wrong direction – it'll wash back towards us!" Aswon slapped in a fresh magazine and continued to fire, afraid to let up for a moment. They were slowing the advancing horde, but not stopping it – there were too many of them, and too many kept getting back up.
"Spirit! Take this cannister over right to the back of the army there and release it!"
"No. I cannot go there."
"Fuck!" Kai hadn't been prepared for the spirit to answer like that – but it didn't even sound defiant or angry – more like it was stating the task was physically impossible. Kai watched as the rest of the team continued to pour automatic or aimed fire into the massive horde of possessed bodies that continued to advance upon them, then winced as a round skipped off his armour. The horde had gotten close enough that some of their weapons were marginally in range, and they were firing now. It wasn't aimed in any way – but with hundreds of weapons, they only had to get lucky once or twice. He saw and heard the others flinching as random rounds struck them too – so far it was light, and easy to ignore, but as they got closer, the fire was going to intensify.
A sound rose behind them, behind the shaman, seeming to come from the ridge to the east, on the road leading back to the tilt-wing. It warbled and screeched, a bugle call that set his teeth on edge as a ghostly wail undulated up and down to some semblance of a tune. Rising up over the ridge, he saw a row of figures riding line abreast, clad in green balefire. The horses stood shoulder to shoulder, chomping and foaming, and as one the two platoons of cavalry drew sabres and held them aloft.
The bugle sounded again, a different tune, and the horses walked forwards, legs prancing as the troops reined in their mounts.
"Um, we have a new problem! More undead enemies or something, behind us. Closing on the shaman!" he called out.
"Shimazu, with me, cover the rear. Everyone else stay up front!" Aswon slung his rifle with one hand and grabbed the spear with the other, turning and breaking into a sprint to reach back towards the circle of shaman. He'd been certain that their rear was secure – that was the way they'd come, only a score of minutes before! He ran back, Shimazu with him, veering off to run around the circle and plant themselves between the horsemen and the sitting shaman, forming an outer barrier to fight through before they could reach the braves.
The cavalry walked a few more paces, then broke into a trot. The trot turned into a cantor, then a gallop, twenty tons of horses accelerating down the gentle slope towards them. Aswon prepared his spear to receive the charge, saw Shimazu ready with his sword ready to strike, and prepared himself for the impact. He could take one, maybe two – but what about the rest?
The bugle cry sounded again, a note of distorted triumph resonating across the valley, screeching like fingernails being dragged down a chalk-board. The two platoons of cavalry split, veering apart and flowed around the circle, flanking down either side as they thundered over the ground. Shimazu and Aswon turned and ran, keeping themselves between the end rider and the shamanic circle, but the ghostly figures seemed unconcerned with their presence – their attention was focussed on the horde of possessed beings ahead.
The sound of the charge driving home rolled across the battlefield as the horses slammed into the wall of flesh. Sabres rose and fell, hacking at the bodies, sending heads flying and limbs cartwheeling through the air. It wasn't all one sided – here and there a horse and rider were dragged down, knives and cudgels rising and falling as the horde swarmed over the downed trooper. But, for the moment the advance had stalled. Marius and Hunter had adjusted their fire – it wasn't like they were short of enemies after all, and their sweeping volume of attacks pinned down the flanks while the cavalry charge went into the centre.
One of the shambling figures glowed through the green light, a dull red at first that brightened through orange and yellow until it was an incandescent white. It quivered for a moment, struggling to contain the energies contained within it, then it let forth a jet of fire that immolated a horse and rider, fiery images of the skeletal structure imprinted on their retinas. Slowly the cavalry were stopped, the mass of bodies driving them back and burning them now the charge had been stopped. The horde pressed onwards.
A deep rumble sounded through the valley, and the ground started to shake. Fearful once more, they glanced behind them to the ridge, wondering what new sight awaited them. Through the swirling clouds of green smoke, the lumbering and ungainly form of an M113 armoured personnel carrier lumbered over the ridge. Another joined it, then another, all clad in the same green ghostly glow as the cavalry officers before them. The screeching of beating blades and a distorted cacophony of noise rose higher and higher as a Huey flew over the top, spitting bullets out of the door guns down into the enemy, while the APCs gunned their engines and raced past the shaman and the team, following the path of the horseback troopers.
A wave of fear, a wash of pure terror washed over the team as some new force joined the fray from behind the army of bodies. The fire eased as Marius, Hunter and the rest of the team flinched in fear, doubts assailing their minds. Tads concentrated, raising her defensive magics and formed a barrier against the spirit's powers, bolstering their defences and strengthening their will, driving out fear, doubt and uncertainty. Hands raised she channelled mana into her wall of power, standing defiant against the will of the Horror, still unseen but not unfelt.
The APCs struck the wall of flesh, driving into, up and over them, grinding flesh and bone under their tracks while machine guns chattered, sending bodies flying. The horde fought back, physically throwing themselves into the tracks, gumming up the sprockets and wheels, grinding themselves into paste as living ammunition against the ghostly invaders. Bodies clambered over the APCs, while knives stabbed through openings, trying to get at whatever ghostly combatants were inside.
The fire slackened from the right flank as Marius expended his last grenades, and he grabbed his backup weapon, sending unaimed autofire into the mob of bodies with one hand. The other grabbed the loose cable from his deck, jabbing it into the rigger interface and he concentrated on his interface, sending his surveillance drone higher into the air and surging forwards. Winds tore and twisted at it, but it rose above the battlefield, letting him see over the advancing mob and higher up the slope, over the ridge and to the hidden ground beyond.
"I can see it. On the back side of the ridge – the horror from the temple. It is making for the graveyard!"
The abomination was propelling itself upon a multitude of legs, white armoured pincers surrounded by tentacles and stingers beneath the pustulant body that oozed and pulsated. The upper section was tougher looking, leathery and glistening with ooze, surrounded by larger tentacles that ended with vicious barbs, dripping with venom. A handful of longer and more slender tentacles waved, eyeballs growing from the ends that studied and directed the flow of battle, using its magical power to push the army of possessed corpses around and bend them to its will. But some of the eyes looked up at the graveyard, and ahead of it the ground trembled, furrows digging down into the dirt, disturbing the resting place of those massacred all those years ago. Twisted mana dug down into the sod, opening the graves and exhuming the bodies, revealing white skeletons laid with ceremonial weapons across their chests.
The APCs had stalled, bogged down by the press of bodies that were using themselves as weapons against the armoured hulls. The Huey still flew over the battlefield, raining down fire, at least until one of the bodies was hurled up into the air by their neighbours, glowing brightly as before – but unlike the first instead of unleashing a wash of fire to burn away their foes, this one exploded like a small bomb. The Huey shuddered, green and black smoke pouring from the engine as it struggled to stay in the air, but more of the living bombs were hurled up into the air at it, and soon it fell to ground, the rotor decapitating a score of the enemy before the horde could rush in and savage it.
More noises from the ridge told them of further reinforcements, as Abrams main battle tanks and Apache gunships joined the fray, following the churned and bloody path laid out for them. Guns roared and missiles flew, savaging the possessed forces as they closed to point blank range, interceding themselves between the rolling mass of flesh and the monument.
"The graveyard! Whatever it's doing, that's the key! We've got to stop it from defiling those graves!" Aswon bellowed, pointing up to the piles of dirt being shovelled aside to unearth the bodies. "Come on!"
Marius moved his drone, setting it to fire a near constant barrage of machine gun fire down the right flank, pummelling bodies and sending a fine mist of blood into the air as quickly as it could reform into bodies. Shimazu and Aswon raced ahead, charging up the hill, weapons raised ready to strike, while Tads lumbered after them with Kai, struggling to move quickly in their armour.
But behind them, Hunter stood still, looking at the carnage ahead of him. He saw the army of possessed beings, an unstoppable force directed by evil, overcoming all they had. Even the unexpected arrival of the cavalry, something that nobody had foreseen had not stopped them. Even now the zombies or whatever they were, crawled and threw themselves onto the enemy. The tanks could only fire in one direction, laying waste to their foes, but to either side the bodies pressed on. Now grotesque abominations, travesties of their former appearance. The arm of a bus driver was attached to the neck of a salesman, waving a shotgun around and firing by reflex. Bodies glowed and burst, sending fireballs up into the sky, striking at the choppers that buzzed overhead, slowing ablating their armour with the magical attacks, bringing them down one by one.
It wasn't enough. He wasn't enough. The wash of failure overwhelmed him, the knowledge that he couldn't defeat this foe. Nothing could stand against this kind of force, this level of power. He might as well give up now. End this. It was best, best for him, best for the others. Best to show them they couldn't rely upon him. Best to let them know he'd let them down. He looked down, somewhat surprised to see the barrel of his weapon pointing at his face already, his fingers reaching for the trigger.
Best just to accept it, to stop fighting. To give up, and surrender to the darkness.
"HUNTER! STOP IT!" Kai's bellow cut through the fog affecting his mind like a hot knife through butter. Curtains of despair parted, and he took a deep breath, realising how close he'd come to ending his own life. With a shudder he took a step backwards, shaking himself and looking at the rest of the team struggling up the rise in their armour, heading for the graveyard.
"Stay strong, Hunter! I'm doing my best, but it's strong! You need to be stronger!" She focussed, trying to encourage rather than belittle him, concentrating on keeping her mana channelled into the shield she had raised around them. She could feel the power that battered at her, insidious fingers of temptation and despair that sought out the minds of her team. Most of it was being battered away, but some leaked through. She reached deep within herself, calling upon reserves of strength to try and protect her team, to save them from the doubts and ravages exposed by the spirit's powers.
The ground below them seemed to turn to sludge, slowing them and cloying at their feet, grasping at them and pulling them down. They forced themselves onwards, rising up level with the graveyard to face the pulsating mass of the Horror as it started to animate the skeletal remains of the massacre victims, energy coursing across the bones as they jerkily rose up out of the ground, grasping at weapons.
Shimazu sprinted forwards, putting himself between the rest of the team and his foe, standing ready to defend them from whatever the creature could do next, while Aswon struggled up behind him. Marius slipped and stagged to one side as a pool of mud gave way beneath his feet, and Kai had to dance to the side to avoid being taken out. Some of the tentacles with eyes turned and fixed upon Kai, then the body swung around to face him directly.
The wash of fear and dread abruptly stopped, and Tads blinked as her resistance wavered, having nothing to push back against. The lack of mental opponent staggered her, and she slipped much as Marius had, clambering for purchase on the slick earth.
The tentacles twitched and focussed, then flicked towards Kai, forming a tunnel of unearthly flesh. Magical force rippled down the tunnel, a wash of purple and green energy, grasping fingers that flew across the battlefield in the blink of an eye, aiming straight towards Kai's upper torso and head.
"Noooooooooooooo!" Tads screamed, trying to raise her shielding, to cover Kai in a layer of protective magic and keep him safe from whatever horrific force was attacking him now. But she was too slow, thrown off balance by the sudden change in attack, still trying to redirect the flow of mana from resisting the insipid fear into shielding against the brute force magical attack.
Time seemed to slow, the swirling mass of purple and green flames forming into grasping hands that reached out across the intervening distance, targeted on Kai's body and soul. Aswon's arms and legs pumped, desperately trying to close the distance, trying to get close enough to attack – but he was too far away. Marius scrambled at his interface, trying to get the drone to track a few degrees over and punch into the beast with continuous heavy fire – but he was jarred as his feet slipped out from under him, landing with a thud onto the ground that cost him precious moments.
Only one person was close enough to intercede, only one person had the reaction speed to affect the outcome.
Shimazu jumped sideways, sword held up high before him, directly into the path of the onrushing spell. Years of bodyguard training drove his muscle to take the steps, putting himself in harm's way. Placing himself between his ward and the enemy that strove to attack him. His sword was raised before him, and the spell impacted onto the blade, energy splitting off and shattering brightly as it was defeated by the magical blade. More and more mana was slammed into the blade, creating a glowing nimbus of roiling death, the shrieking of a thousand sacrificed souls striving to get past his defences.
He nearly held it at bay. Nearly. But the Horror had fed and grown on its journey hear, sustained by the death and suffering of hundreds. It poured more power into the attack, and with a tortured shriek Shimazu's sword fell silent, temporarily overwhelmed by the force of the attack. The ball of green and purple power flowed past the blade and struck him, lancing into his flesh. His screams pierced the air, a wail of pure agony as his soul was ripped from his body, ten thousand barbs plucking at his essence and drawing it away from the flesh. With a ripping noise they barbs plucked away his life-force, recoiling back into the waiting maw of the Horror. In less than the blink of an eye it was consumed, stripped away from them and they saw the massive body start to sway and slide sideways, falling to the earth.
"Not the soul I wanted, but this one will do. I will feast on this instead." The voice in their head was unpleasant, rasping, leathery and moist. Syllables squirmed and elongated, leaving them feeling dirty and violated.
With a flick of a large tentacle, the Horror opened a gateway, a portal to the astral realm and physically hurled itself through, disappearing into the rip into astral space and vanishing from view. The portal closed, and the battlefield fell silent. Overhead the clouds vanished, replaced with the clear hazy sky of the winter morning. The ghostly forms of tanks and cavalry vanished, leaving only a thousand bodies laying upon the devastated ground, churned up and bloody, reeking of death and destruction. Every corpse was withered and shrunken, the very life force consumed by the power of the Horror.
Kai and Aswon struggled over to the body of Shimazu, rolling him over with a heave. They checked him quickly, pulling out the bio-monitor and running it over his face. The monitors wobbled and blanked, then displayed the data – no pulse. No respiration. No brain activity. No signs of life. Kai tried again, pulling out the physical cables and attaching them to his temples and throat, unable to reach his chest through the thick armour.
No change.
Tads squelched forwards, dread and horror filling her mind. She dropped into astral and examined him, seeing only an empty body. No part of the true essence of the man remained, just a sack of meat, slowly expiring with nothing to drive it or keep it alive.
Kai stabbed at the button on the medical scanner again, as if by pushing it harder he could get the data to change, but it stayed resolutely still. No signs of life.
"EHRAN! HELP. NOW!"
His yell echoed down the gentle valley, grief and loss causing it to crack and break as he crouched over the body of the man who had given his life to save his own.
