by Gabi Moore
“Not too easy to do. The shipment address is the shopping mall he owns in our world. Plus, the sizes of the crates match the ones over there. Any investigator would conclude the paperwork was written just to hide the true nature of what he was importing.”
Another clap of thunder echoed through the warehouse. Dion looked around it and noticed the entrance to the lion’s cage on the far end. The eyes of the big predator stared out at him and he heard the beast make a low growl. Maybe they could release it if Queen Lilith and her minions became more of a threat. The sisters seemed to have it under control. However, a lion was still a wild animal and unpredictable.
“Don’t move from these crates,” Susan told the servants. “We’ll be back. If you are needed upstairs, close them up and push them back to the racks.”
“What if we need to use the bathroom?” one of the men asked.
“One at a time. One man can use it while the other keeps these weapons under watch.”
Dion and Susan took their time going up the stairs. Dion felt the musty cold and damp air inside the stairwell. It was worse at the bottom of the tower. It must be due to the dampness rising from the flooded-out landscape. He prayed the foundation of the tower would withstand the constant barrage of rain. If this was the first time a storm lasted so long in memory, had one ever been so bad before? This tower was massive, he could think of no equivalent one back in his world. Most of the watchtowers in on Earth were much smaller and built less than five hundred years ago. Most were abandoned when their reason to be there vanished. A watchtower wasn’t needed when you had aerial reconnaissance. As it stood by itself, such a tower became target practice for cannons and guided missiles.
They emerged into the great hall to discover her sisters arguing with his uncle. His parents were sitting further away than the last time and pretended not to take part in the conversation.
“It was your idea to open the gate,” Kiley pointed out to Seth Bach. “You were the one who appeared out of nowhere and had this fantastic plan which would solve our financial problems. Now we have to figure out what to do about those things in the tower over us. I did not inherit this position just to watch the tower fall into ruin. If the sovereign finds out what happened, she’ll have us all removed and the tower placed under her direct control again.”
“I swear,” his uncle sent back, “that I had no knowledge as what was to happen. They caught me off guard just as everyone else. Had I advance warning what was to happen, I never would’ve gone through with it.”
“I don’t know about that, Mr. Bach,” Susan said, who had emerged from the shadows with Dion. “I think you may have planned this invasion all along.” Her eyes of fire contrasted with the rest of her, an effect that Dion hadn’t noticed before.
“That is absurd,” Dion’s uncle shouted to her as he spun around. “Why would I sabotage my own process? What possible reason could I have for doing such a thing?” Dion’s uncle sat straight in the chair he occupied at the table, the picture of righteous indignation.
“Perhaps you can tell, us,” she replied. Susan stopped a body length in front of him and towered over the man. “I just found three crates we didn’t know about in the first level warehouse. Do I need to tell my sisters what were in those crates?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about!”
“Talk to us,” Kiley Mahen demanded. Dion watched her eyes flush red too.
“The servants found three crates the other day which were not on the inventory list of the first level warehouse. They had me come down and look at them when just now when the crates were opened because they wanted one of us to have a look. I didn’t recognize what was in them, so I had his nephew brought down to see them. Dion tells me those crates contained projectile weapons, deadly enough to kill everyone in the tower, both human and otherwise. Isn’t that right, Dion?”
“More than enough to do it once,” Dion agreed. “There is enough ammunition down there to kill everyone in the tower several times over.”
Her sisters were livid. “Projectile weapons in our tower?” Kiley gasped.
“If the sovereign ever finds out,” Loris managed to speak, “we’ll lose everything and be turned out in the streets.”
“Only if she doesn’t have the three of us executed,” Susan added. “It is a capital offense to own one of those things.”
“Lock him up!” Kiley Mahen yelled to a few of her people who stood near the table. “Take him down to the spare room next to Draco’s pen! I will figure out what to do with Mr. Bach later.”
“You have no proof!” Dion’s uncle was pleading as three of the tower retainers hauled him down the stairs.
“Dion thinks he planned on using Queen Lilith to clear us out of the tower,” Susan Mahen explained to her sisters.
Kiley looked puzzled. “Why would he do that?” The air took a slow chill, as the temperature in the great hall seemed to lessen by a few degrees.
“He would reveal the weapons when the Azuroth were about to break through,” Dion explained. “You would have no choice but to allow him to use them against the invaders. He has people in this tower who are experienced with them. I’ve even heard them complain about their lack of weapons. Once they had their hands on them, the Azuroth, and their queen, would be mowed down faster than grass under a blade. Sure, you would have had to allow him to use deadly and banned weapons to do the job, but all of you would still be alive. You would also be forced to let him have his way with the tower or risk discovery by your sovereign.” He didn’t mention his fear that all of them could easily be eliminated as witnesses by one burst of those automatic rifles.
“What are we going to do with those weapons?” Loris questioned. “What happens if they are ever discovered here?”
“You can send them back with us,” Dion explained to her. “Or bury them some place. I’d recommend sending them back so there is nothing to show they were every here.”
“What about the guards who are holding the Azuroth back?” Kiley brought up. “Will they still listen to us if they know their employer is being held in the warehouse?”
“Who says we have to tell them anything?” Susan offered. “Besides, they are busy with the hordes. None of them can run out of here, where would they go in this storm?” Another flash of lighting punctuated her statement.
“What about reopening the gate?” Susan asked. “Can we do that? It might be possible to get the Azuroth back into the abyss if we open up the gated to it. Do we have the means to do it?”
As they talked, Dion turned and looked at the group of women who’d arrived on the bus. All of them were in the far part of the great hall in the middle of several conversations. From what he could hear, it was all about books. They were in danger both within and without. Didn’t their situation register to these women? At least a few of them were aware of the threat from the invaders over them. Whey didn’t it seem to concern the rest? What was he missing in this picture?
Dion heard a cry next to the open elevator shaft and saw one of the servants listening in to the speaking tube, which projected from the wall near it. He called out an acknowledgement into the tube and ran to the table where the sisters were still trying to figure out what to do about the latest revelation.
“Ma’am’s,” he began respectfully, although Dion thought this was an odd title to use, “those things have broken down the door to the sauna. They’re on the move down to our level.” As soon as he finished another clap of thunder rocked the great hall.
“We have to do something now,” Kiley said as she leaped up from the table. “Have the men get our armor out of the warehouse and have it brought up here. This is about to get bloody.”
“They’ve stopped them for the time being,” the servant explained. “The guard I talked with said the creatures halted at the stairwell to the kitchen. I don’t know how they did it, but it’s worked for the moment.”
“Go up and check on the situation,” she instructed him. “I’ll have the rest
of the men bring out our armor and weapons.”
Loris stood up from the table as well and Dion could sense the mood change inside the hall. All three women went from bored aristocrats to responsible guardians of the tower. It hadn’t occurred to him they might have martial training as part of their background. It would make sense, as only their particular group of people would have the time to engage in the training needed to use edged weapons. The tower might not have any military value, but the family who leased it was still expected to defend it, and the people under them, whenever they had to do it.
And right now, they were needed.
Chapter 17
“I’ll go upstairs with him,” Dion volunteered. “I still have two sets of elementals I can use. I’d hate to deploy them right now, but I will if the Azuroth break through again.” He didn’t think the fire salamanders would have much trouble pushing them back to the top of the tower if he had to use them.
As Dion hurried away from the concerned looks of his parents, he ran after the steward who was headed up the stair well. The man was much older than Dion, definitely in his forties, although age patterns were something else he knew nothing about in this world.
“Right behind you!” Dion called to the man as he followed him up the stairs. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Miles,” he told him. “You’re the one they call Dion?”
“Correct. You’ve been around this tower for a long time?”
“All my life. It might not be the best job in the world, but the family treated me fairly and the pay is good. I’m worried the sisters are up against something they can’t handle.”
Dion could hear the air wheeze through the man’s mouth. He was a little over-weight and the stairs were hard on them both. It was a good thing they didn’t have to up the top of the tower.
They were about to step out on the sixth level, the kitchen, when they heard a clanging sound behind them. Since he had no idea what caused it, Dion started to summon one of the elementals. In this enclosed space, the fire salamanders would not be a good idea. This left the water nymphs, although there might be a problem in using them too. Dion reached out and found the location of the elementals he needed in the other world. Suddenly, the source of the noise became visible to Miles and himself.
It was Kiley Mahen in a full suit of body armor. It had to be her because the armor was coated in black.
She walked past them, a short spear in one hand a small round shield slung from the other arm. Dion noted the shield had a slight curve in it to deflect any weapons used against it. They stopped to allow her the opportunity to walk past in her full metal plate.
“They got me ready just in time,” she told them as she lumbered past. “Time to do a little demon hunting. I hope their blood cleans up better than the last bunch did.”
The armor was fitted to her and allowed Kiley to move in any direction she wanted without fear of a gap. She had a helm strapped to her head, which rotated inside a bevor. It protected her neck from any thrusts or slashes. Dion didn’t see the least bit of chainmail on her. Kiley moved with the armor in place as if it was a second layer of skin. It was obvious to Dion she’s spent plenty of time training inside the armor.
They stepped out from behind her to see a scene of complete abandon.
The guards were not as in control of this floor as they had pretended to be. The door on the other side was closed, but the Azuroth on the other side of it were busy. Dion watched as the guards attempted to reinforce the door, with hammers and nails busy pounding more boards in place. Most of the guards were from his uncle’s former mall security officers, but there were plenty of men with them attached to the tower.
“Give me a report,” Kiley, her voice muffled by the helm. “I need to know what is happening.”
They broke through a few minutes ago,” one of the guards said. “We heard them start up on the door, but knew it was better prepared by those little men Dion brought in to help. When it started to go, we grabbed what we could and ran down here. We started securing the doors leading down on the levels above us even before they broke through. But I don’t know how much longer we can hold them. Is that a real suit of armor?”
“It was the last time I checked,” Kiley Mahen responded. “And this is a real sharp spear. What happened to the pikes you were supposed to have on standby?”
“Left them two levels up. When they broke through, we had to make a run for it.”
Kiley moved to the center of the room with her shield now in the fist of her left hand. She cocked the spear under her right arm and stood ready at the door. The guards began to move away to give her some clearance.
“I don’t see how you’re going to take all of them out, ma’am,” one of the guards said to her. “Even if you skewer the first one out of the stairwell, they’ll be plenty more behind it.”
“I start turning them into targets and they’ll reconsider coming through,” she explained. “Once they see the first few go down, the rest will reconsider.”
“What happens if they decide to gang up on you?” another one of the guards asked. By now, all of them were gathered to the stairwell, which led downward. Since the warehouse took up levels one and two and the great hall the next two levels, it means a mad rush to the kitchen and laundry area.
“I doubt they have enough brainpower to consider it,” she told them.
Dion watched the lighting from the outside reflect of the black sheen on the armor. Good thing Kiley wasn’t outside right now or she would turn into a human lightening rod.
“I think we are about to find out one way or another,” Dion commented as the door began to heave open.
Once again, the large door pushed toward them, the hasty barricades breaking under the combined thrusts from the other side. This time the door separated from its hinges and fell forward as it was burst loose from the frame. When it hit the floor, the forms of a packed group of Azuroth were seen from the stairwell entrance.
It was at that moment Dion remembered the tower was built to defend itself against a force from the outside. Not only did Queen Lilith have the high ground, but she and her minions had an advantage in the way the tower was built.
The furry demoniod creatures stopped when they saw the figure in armor that faced them in the middle of the floor. Kiley Mahen thrusted at them with her spear. She wanted to show the creatures she knew how to use it. The stood there and looked at her in confusion until one of them figured out what to do.
One of the furry, clawed Azuroth reached down to the floor and picked up a section of a chair leg. It flung it at her and the section of wood connected with her helm. Kiley wobbled a bit, but managed to keep her ground. She was still a credible threat to her opponents and they knew it.
One of the other Azuroths picked up a chunk of wood from the floor and through it at Kiley. She neatly skewered it with her spear, and then chucked it to the floor. Kiley, her armor shined to a mirror finish, returned to her offensive pose and pointed the spear tip at the mob of furry creatures that faced her. Her opponents seem to hesitate and think about what they were up against.
Dion could feel the tension in the room. The guards didn’t seem to know if they should back her up or run down the stairs behind them. There didn’t seem to be too many options on what to do at that very minute. So long as Kiley stood there with the spear, none of the demoniods would try to run past her. But this could change at any minute.
They were inside a kitchen. The door to the stairwell which had fallen to the floor, opened to a food preparation area with large table and racks next to it. Dion saw an entire board full of knives they could use if the creatures tried to charge them at once. Right now, they were held back by one woman in armor who wielded a spear and shield.
The next object thrown at her was a pot from the floor. The pot had fallen from the wall while the Azuroth were in the process of breaking down the door. One of the creatures picked it up and sent it at Kiley, who neatly deflected it back at them wit
h her shield.
Dion became concerned when he noticed one of the stoves, which vented to the outside. It still had a fire burning inside it. He couldn’t tell from this range what provided the fuel. It might be gas or wood. His main concern was the stove fire could spread if this conflict got out of control. Right now, that was a very real possibility.
The air filled with flying objects as the Azuroth decided no single one of them had the ability to take out the armored figure that faced them. Kiley blocked masonry, pots, wood, ceramic and anything else the demons could hurl in her direction. If not for the armor, she would have been pulverized by the objects they sent across the room. The guards were forced to retreat far back the stairwell as the missiles bounced off everything in the kitchen.
Dion thought she had created a stalemate until a large block slammed into the side of her helmet. Kiley wobbled again, but managed to hold her composure. The demons sent more chunks of stone at her, each one pulled from what came loose from the doorframe. Two more blocks struck her at the same time and she began to go over.
At the same time, a chunk of wood smashed into a lit stove, causing it to burst into flames. The demons stopped when they saw the flames and retreated when the fire began to spread across the floor. In addition to heights, they didn’t like fire either.
“We need to get her out of there!” Miles yelled to the right of Dion.
Kiley was down on her knees. She’s dropped the small round shield, but stayed erect with the spear as a support. From the other side of the fire, more rocks were tossed at her by the creatures. They might not like the flames, but were determined to take control of the tower. Above the flames, they were doomed, should the fire spread upward. The only way to safety was through the armored woman who carried the spear. It wouldn’t take long for them to charge.
Miles lunged out to the figure of Kiley Mahen in the middle of the kitchen floor. Blood was flowing from her helmet down to the armor that protected her shoulders. The only thing that stopped him from running to her side was Dion’s hand. He grabbed Miles by the collar and pulled him back to the where they stood.