Firestarter

by Jan Stryvant

  When the shelling started a half hour later, Sean took partial cover in one of the trenches, but continued watching through the binoculars.

  "This is where it gets really interesting," he told Adam between explosions.

  "Why's that?"

  "Because I don't think they're going to be using any magic."

  "Why," Adam paused as another shell landed, "wouldn't they?"

  "Because what good would it do them?" Another shell struck, knocking down the simple earthen wall the demons had started to build. "Once the gate closes, without constant reinforcements, they just won't be able to hold it."

  Another shell hit.

  "So why even try?"

  "That's a good question, isn't it? Why even try…"

  "You're starting to sound like Chad, you know."

  A shell landed right in one of the ditches then, blowing up a huge pile of dirt, and quite a few bodies.

  Sean laughed. "Yeah, too much time listening to him go on about tactics. But I'm looking at this like one of the games we used to play." Another shell hit, this one just outside the border of the construction going on. "I think I'm starting to see a method to this madness, and I think they've moved on to gathering data."

  "All I know is, I'm seeing lots of body parts down there."

  Another shell, and almost immediately after, a group swarmed out of one of the trenches to start rebuilding the earthen wall. Another shell hit right in the middle of them, killing them all. A moment later, another group started in on the same job.

  "I can't understand why they're still trying to build and not waiting for the shelling to stop!" Adam said with an exasperated sigh.

  "They have unlimited manpower. I wouldn't stop, either. It's an experiment."

  "An experiment?"

  "They want to see what they can build, without magic, if they just keep throwing bodies at it."

  "Why would they do that?"

  Sean put down the binoculars and looked at Adam. "Because once the main gateway opens, they'll have unlimited reinforcements and resupply. If they just keep throwing bodies at the problem, bodies they'll never run out of, sooner or later they'll get their fort built."

  "But why aren't they using magic, then?"

  "Oh, I'm sure that they will, eventually. But I don't think they're going to be doing it this time."

  "Think Chad knows?"

  "Let's find out," Sean said. Calling Chad on the radio, he shared his thoughts with him.

  "I think you're right," Chad agreed. "I was starting to come to the same conclusion, because it's the only thing that really makes sense. Now the question is: What do we do about it?"

  "How about never shelling them for more than thirty minutes at a time?" Sean suggested.

  "Better yet," Adam added, "how about not shelling them at night? Make them think if we can't see them, we can't hit them."

  Chad laughed over the radio. "You know what? Both of those are good. But that means they're going to get a lot of building done once the sun goes down."

  "Bring up some heavy machine guns, a couple of howitzers, and give everyone lots and lots of hand grenades," Sean suggested. "We can keep their lives interesting during the night, and when the morning comes, we hit them with a really heavy barrage."

  "Think they'll know we're messing with them?" Adam asked.

  "No idea," Chad replied, "but how many people really know what the military is capable of these days? They've been possessing and dealing primarily with politicians. Otherwise they wouldn't be doing these little experiments."

  "I'm wondering if we're still going to have to worry about a breakout once their fort is done," Sean said.

  "I'm planning on it," Chad confessed. "But we have all day to get ready for it. So let's get everyone set up to deal with it before the sun sets."

  The first night nothing happened, beyond them finishing all the berms and starting on the building. The machineguns and the cannons, along with a number of raids, kept the fort from making much progress, and come the morning the artillery knocked a lot of it back down.

  But not all.

  By the time the sun was starting to set at the end of the second day, Sean noticed they'd actually made a small amount of progress on their fort, and were fixing the damaged berms fairly quickly now.

  "I think they're going to go for it tonight," he radioed Chad.

  "I agree. What's your reasoning?"

  "This is just too good an opportunity for them to get some djevels past our defenses and out into the area in general."

  "You know, if I start shelling them after the sun sets, it just ruins all the work we've done here so far."

  "I know," Sean agreed, "so I think we need to warn everyone that we're going to have a pretty nasty standup fight on our hands tonight."

  "I'm going to send the sappers around to mine everyone's positions. As you retreat out of them, we'll blow them up once the demons have moved in."

  "Djevels," Sean corrected.

  "Ha, ha. Better warn the magic users to keep an eye on their ward."

  "I'll do that," Sean said and tuned his radio to the frequency they used to contact the base. It took a few minutes to get Roxy on the line.

  "What's up, Hon?"

  "We're expecting a big push tonight. More likely than not, I'm sure some djevels are going to get by us."

  "So you want me to alert the magic users to keep an eye on their ward?"

  "Exactly. And if you can spare them a helicopter or two, send out a couple of the tracking teams."

  "I'll call Clyde, the horse clan head, and let him know his people should expect to see a lot of activity tonight."

  "How are they working out?" Sean said. "I'd all but forgotten about their offer to patrol the borders and help track any demon runners."

  "So far they're working out great. The magic users love 'em because they're cautious and not overly gung-ho."

  "Unlike the wolves?"

  "The wolves, the boars, the cheetahs, the leopards, the tigers, and even a few lions I know!" Roxy chuckled. "So why are you so sure they're attacking tonight? From the reports I've been getting, it seems like it's been pretty dull out there."

  "For exactly that reason."

  "Okay, I'll let the airbase know they need to double their guard."

  "Thanks, love you."

  "Love you, too."

  "That reminds me," Adam said as Sean hung up, "I better call Ryla."

  "Afraid she'll be mad?"

  Adam snorted. "I know you two don't get along, Sean, but the truth is, I really do love her."

  "Well, good for you. Go call her, I'll go look for those sappers Chad's sending us."

  The sappers showed up just as the sun was setting, and Sean spent the next hour helping them get the mines and the claymores set up, with Hunter's help. They then went off to help the next group over, as Sean and the rest settled in to wait.

  "How long until the attack?" Adam asked.

  "Oh, I'd give it another hour," Hunter said from where he was watching the gateway.

  "Why's that?"

  "Because they're coming out of the gateway pretty fast and building up their numbers."

  Swearing, Sean and Adam picked up their binoculars and started looking.

  "Chad, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Sean called over the radio.

  "Yup. As soon as the sappers are done, I'm going to send up a flare, and we'll start opening up with the heavy weapons. I just don't want them attacking us until we've got our defenses finished."

  "Well, at least tell the snipers to start picking off the leaders."

  "Will do!"

  Sean got his own rifle and started looking for targets of opportunity as well. He'd hit his third one when suddenly a bunch of flares went up, and the battle was on. The djevels attacked almost immediately; most of them were bonde and gnashers with råges driving them on, marching out of their fort and coming around the berms.

  It started off as a slaughter—there were a lot of defenders, and they
all had rifles with iron bullets—but the attackers broke into a run, and for all that they kept falling, more and more of them kept coming.

  "Grenades!" Sean called out as he swapped magazines and continued firing. The djevels were getting closer and closer with each wave.

  "You know, maybe we should have attacked them before they got so many through this time," Adam growled as his rifle jammed and he quickly cleared it.

  "I know, right?" Sean growled back.

  "Everyone! Fall back!" Sean called and, casting a flame jet, he swept it back and forth in front of the demons that had now advanced to within twenty feet. The moment everyone had jumped up out of the trenches, the first row of claymores went off, devastating the front rows, giving Sean and the others enough time to run down the rise to their next defensive position, which was already manned by a large group of reserves.

  Taking a moment to refresh their supplies of ammunition, Sean took a breather and looked at the men around him. There were a lot of black jaguars there, and the rest were mostly tigers and bears.

  "Well, as I live and breathe, Gunny Wyatt! Nice to see you all made your hybrid forms."

  "It's an ill wind that blows no good, Sir."

  Sean snorted. "Call me Sean. Save the 'sir' bit for the officers."

  Just then the mines that had been laid down in the trenches up above went off, killing the next wave of attackers.

  "Well, time to get back to work," Sean said, raising his rifle and shooting at the next wave, which was stumbling over the trenches up above.

  "You're not holding any grudges, are you, Sean?" Wyatt asked in a voice loud enough to be heard over the gunfire.

  "Not against you or yours, Wyatt. We're good," he replied, equally loud. Sean had noticed that a lot of the men around him had been paying close attention to what he was saying between shots.

  "But these djevel bastards? Oh yeah, I want them all dead!"

  "Well, I think we can help you with that, right boys?"

  Sean was surprised at the sudden loud calls of 'Hoorah!' followed by a bunch of very loud barks.

  The fighting increased in tempo then, as more and more of the demons came over the hill and down towards them. The groups on their flanks had started firing into the demons as well.

  "Chad!" Sean called over the radio. "Do you want us to fall back slowly or counterattack?"

  "Fall back! They're trying to break out on your position! I've got help coming, but don't try to stand your ground until I tell you to!"

  "Got it! Everyone!" Sean raised his voice. "We're going to pull back slowly and draw them out! Slowly!"

  Sean started to retreat, slinging his rifle and drawing his sword. This was going to get nasty.

  When the leading line of bonde reached him, Sean started in with his sword and was surprised to see the Marines had affixed their bayonets and were using them quite effectively. Apparently the dwarves had turned out a large supply of faerie bayonets, and the Marines seemed to be quite adept at switching from stabbing to shooting and back again.

  The men of Hunter's squad were still using their rifles, but they were using the Marines as cover, shooting over or around them into the attackers. It was a tactic that was actually working fairly well. Adam had drawn his sword now, as well, and was mirroring Sean's tactics about twenty feet down the line to his right.

  It was some eternity later, Sean had lost all track of time, when yet another couple of larger demons started drawing near. It soon became clear that it was the usual pair of a ridder and a biskop, but this time there was only the one set. Sean and the others had killed quite a few of these tonight. This pair had a large number of gnashers surrounding them, which made Sean wonder if perhaps they were running out of the bonde?

  The fight got more vicious then, as it became clear that this was about as far as they could go. Sean stopped retreating at that point and waved his sword, almost too tired to yell for the others to halt. But they noticed he'd stopped, and immediately followed suit. Grunting, Sean kicked the bonde in front of him, and moved forward once more. Checking his mana level, he saw there was no way he could use any spells at this point. He'd taken so many hits that he needed all his power simply to stay alive and keep healing his wounds.

  But man was he tired.

  The jag fighting next to him he didn't recognize. Same for the werewolf on his other side. Wyatt had switched out with someone else a while ago, probably to get some rest, and that one had left…well, Sean couldn't remember when. The only thing keeping him going at this point was a need to be seen rallying the troops, and he suspected some sort of power from the energy all lions got from the lycans around them.

  Risking a glance at Adam, he could see Adam looked just as exhausted as he did, but was also fighting on.

  "You need to take a break, Adam," Sean gasped over the radio.

  "Speak for yourself, I ain't letting some kid show me up in front of all these people."

  "How about you both take a break before I call your wives and have your asses handed to you?" Chad called over the radio. "Seriously, we've got a handle on this, let the others hold them off for a while."

  "Does he always play this dirty?" Adam gasped.

  "No, sometimes he gets mean," Sean replied and, waving the others forward, he took a step back from the line. Another soldier, this one a bear, quickly stepped up and filled in the gap.

  Sean just stood there, panting and watching for a while, as they slowly, inch by inch, started to push the demons back. After a few minutes, someone came up and took a hold of his arm.

  "Come on, you look like you need a break."

  Turning, Sean saw it was one of the jaguar Marines.

  "Yeah, a break would be good," Sean said slowly. He noticed Adam was stumbling back as well. "Someone better help Adam before he falls over."

  Sean keyed his radio as he was led over to a place to sit down and catch his breath. "What's the word, Chad?"

  "Once the sun comes up, we'll start shelling them again. Yours wasn't the only spot they tried to break out, but it was probably the largest."

  "How long until that happens?"

  "Twenty minutes. Haven't you noticed how bright it's getting?

  "Not really, no. How many of them got away?"

  "Fifty? A hundred? More, maybe? Some of them slipped through the lines and managed to keep going because they didn't stop to fight anybody."

  "And no one killed them?"

  "We got stretched pretty thin in a few places."

  "Yeah, well, I'm feeling pretty stretched myself right now. I lost count of how many bonde, råge, ridder, and biskops I killed last night."

  "Yeah, you and Adam put on a strong showing, alright."

  "It's a lion thing," Adam interrupted over the radio.

  "You guys say that a lot, don't you?"

  "Yeah," Sean laughed. "It's a lion thing. How much longer until the gateway closes?"

  "Eighteen hours."

  "Great, a bite to eat, something to drink, and we can go kill some more."

  "They've stopped reinforcing and have actually started retreating. They shot their wad; I don't think they're looking to sacrifice anymore than they have to at this point."

  "Well, if you say so," Sean said. Looking around at the soldiers resting on the ground, he asked one of them, "Is there anything to drink around here? Maybe something to eat?"

  "Yeah, a beer would really hit the spot right now," Adam said, stretching out a few feet away. "Wake me when they get here."

  "You guys want to go back in there, to that?" One of the tigers asked, pointing at the fight. "You've been there for like ten hours!"

  "All part of the service," Adam muttered closing his eyes. "All part of the service."

  Ξ

  King Sladd strode into the room. Stopping just inside, he looked around and surveyed all who were waiting to attend him. His princes were all prostrate before his throne, as the law decreed.

  Arrayed behind them were their assorted hangers-on. Advisors, play
things, whatever. Leaving a member of your entourage unattended in Sladd's castle was never a wise idea. Sladd was not adverse to taking those found alone and unattended and eating them. Finding a good meal was rather difficult in the times between passes, after all.

  Continuing on to his throne, he sat and took another look around the room.

  "Rise," he commanded, and his princes, all six of them, did just that.

  "So tell me, Prince Talt, what happened?"

  "We were repulsed again, Your Majesty."

  Sladd smiled; he liked to make them admit before the others when they'd failed. He'd been letting each of them take a chance at the storsindet gates as they opened. It was too bad one of the hellige gates for the storsindets had been destroyed; King Sladd often wondered what that idiot Ansigt had done to cause it. Up until then, he'd been willing to look the other way as Ansigt had played his little games, thinking if he ended up with a seventh prince his power would grow so great that he might take on a lesser king and possess his princes, as well.

  "Is that all?" King Sladd asked, his thoughts returning to the matter at hand.

  "No, Your Majesty. I now believe that it would be possible to build and maintain a fort under the new attacks the lions have been using against us. Their weapons are less effective at night. So if we were to bring our mages out to construct shields during that time, we could construct a fort from which to sally forth and destroy our enemy."

  Sladd nodded. "What else?"

  "The hosts of the lions are most tenacious this time around. They were able to put up a surprising amount of resistance. It will be a week before I can report for certain how many got past them and out into the fruitful plains of our sacred hunting grounds."

  Sladd looked a little surprised at that. "Didn't you tell them to contact you?"

  Prince Talt shook his head. "Not for a short span of days, Your Majesty. I have been concerned about the mages with whom the lions have made an allegiance. I did not want those who got past their defenses to do anything that might expose them until they are well and far away."

  "Ah," King Sladd said and nodded. This was why Prince Talt was the first among his princes. He was smarter than most, and craftier than all. Times like this made King Sladd wonder if perhaps the time to replace Prince Talt may be coming near. Sooner or later, he would try to replace Sladd and crown himself king. It was the way of things. That was how Sladd had risen to power so many hundreds of passes ago.