"Ancient-one magic," said Tlathia, moving to join Leela, and stared at the charred troll. "The air still thrums with its residue. Even I couldn't have cast a Storm-Tongue spell that powerful."
"I … I don't think an ancient one did this," said Elizabeth, feeling a surge of hope. She was familiar with the residue of power here. She had used it more than once herself. She stared up at the high ground.
"Why do you say this, Lizbeth-Chambers?" Tlathia asked. "What is it you suspect?"
"I think … I hope that this is the work of a friend."
"You're thinking this was Cassie?" asked Paco. Clyde's ears stood up at the mention of Cassie's name, making the dog look like a bat.
"I am."
"Are you certain?" Tlathia asked. "The magic that was used here surpasses anything my people could achieve. I mean no disrespect, but I have yet to see you or Leela use such power."
"Cassie has a talisman," said Elizabeth. "It augments her magic—greatly augments her magic. It's how I killed … what did you call the basilisk? Gaze-Killer?"
"I did," said Tlathia approvingly.
"I blew its head apart with a single lightning bolt. Cassie isn't strong in offensive magic, but with the Brace, she could have easily killed this troll."
"What is a … Brace exactly?" Tlathia asked.
"You're talking about that glove," Paco said. "The one the Great Elder Brother gave Cassie, the talisman."
"Yes," said Elizabeth. "Before the … Great Elder Brother—what you'd call an ancient one—died, it gave the glove to Cassie and told her it was called a Brace, or maybe the Brace. It wanted her to have it."
"An ancient-one talisman," said Tlathia with wonder. "Truly, your friend, this Cassie, is blessed. She is another mage?"
"We call ourselves mag-sens, magic-sensitives, but yes, she's a mage."
"And she actually spoke to the ancient one?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Well, not … exactly. Cassie said it communicated telepathically with her, as you and I did through the crowns."
"That makes sense for masters of magic," Tlathia said, bobbing her head. "I doubt we ever needed your crowns to communicate with them, Kargin. Even we fae seelie are like children compared to them."
Kargin snorted. "Maybe not, but I do know I'd love to examine this … Brace."
Tlathia squeezed his shoulder. "Indeed. Let's go find this Cassie."
"I'm pretty sure they've abandoned this site," said Paco, gazing up at the terrain above the cliff. "But we passed what looked like a path that leads up. We should be careful, though. If these are pros, and I'm sure they are, they may have booby-trapped the way up. We could stumble right into a Claymore."
"Into a what?" Kargin asked.
"An explosive device," Paco answered. "Thousands of little metal balls that fire outward and shred attackers."
Kargin stroked one of his beard's braids. "Ah, yes. That makes sense. Such wonderful weapons you humans possess. I think we have much in common."
"We must check," said Tlathia. "If they're no longer there, perhaps they've left a clue as to where they've gone."
Paco chewed his lip but grunted his agreement. "Okay, but walk where I walk, and step where I step." He looked over at Leela, Corinna, and Elizabeth. "Maybe you three should stay—"
"Maybe you should shut it," Leela answered. "I'm coming."
"I'm an RCMP officer, Paco," said Corinna, frowning at him. "I'm the one you call when shit goes down."
"We'll be careful," Elizabeth said.
Paco mumbled beneath his breath about "women" but turned and led them back down the highway to a small trail that cut up the side of the cliff. Elizabeth had walked right past it in the dark without seeing it.
Paco paused then dropped down on one knee and shone his penlight over the trail. "Shit," he said softly. "The ground is trampled, and not by human prints. I think the enemy went up this way. However…" His voice trailed off.
"What is it?" Leela asked.
"There are boot prints, soldiers' boot prints intermingled with these boggart-things. I'm getting some bad mojo about this."
"What do you believe happened?" Kargin asked, looking over Paco's shoulder.
"I think they hauled prisoners back down this trail. Maybe the ambush failed after all, or maybe the enemy attacked again, but if so, why would they leave their dead lying where they fell?"
"Boggarts don't give a drunk-pixie's fart about their dead," snarled Kargin.
Kargin reached past Paco to trail his fingers through the dirt then rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, bringing them near his large nose. "Blood."
Paco glanced out of the corner of his eye at the dwarf. "Boggarts?"
Kargin shook his head. "Boggart blood stinks like something you'd piss after drinking stale beer. This is, I think, human."
"Be cautious," said Tlathia, gazing up the dirt path.
"You'd better believe it," said Paco. "But if the enemy has been up and down this trail, then at least we don't need to worry about booby traps."
Clyde led the way, with Paco close behind. He had turned off the penlight and now held Elizabeth's rifle ready for use. Kargin followed with his axes in hand, the ax-heads now cold once again. How does he do that? Elizabeth wondered. Turn them on and off in a moment. Are they magical?
As they reached the summit of the embankment, they came upon the corpses of a half dozen soldiers lying amidst hundreds of empty rifle and machine-gun casings. Elizabeth's blood ran cold as she stared at the men, all wearing the distinctive combat gear of Task Force Devil. Paco and Kargin moved among the corpses, confirming they were dead. "They … they've been ripped apart," Paco said sadly. "With these bite marks, it looks like something a lion would do."
"Or gwyllgi-hounds," answered Kargin, "but I don't think that was the case here. Gwyllgi use their fire breath to char their prey before eating, but none of these warriors has been burned. This was something else."
"Their weapons are gone," said Elizabeth, feeling queasy. "Why take their weapons?"
Paco moved away and examined the edge of the cliff. "This was a firing position." He held aloft a small piece of twisted black metal that lay scattered among a pile of empty casings. Elizabeth recognized it as one of the disposable links that held machine-gun ammo together. "C6 links." He met Elizabeth's eye. "These were ours, weren't they, Elizabeth?"
She nodded, her gorge rising as she looked among the mutilated corpses. Whatever had killed these men had ripped limbs from torsos, trailing sinew and strips of glistening muscle. A head, still in its Kevlar combat helmet, lay separate, the blue eyes seemingly watching Elizabeth. "Robin," she said softly, resisting the urge to puke. "I don't remember his last name, but he was one of the American Deltas. He came from California, an honest-to-God blond-haired, blue-eyed surfer. He was like a stereotype but incredibly funny and kind and professional as hell. What could have done this?"
"There are many monsters on Faerum that could have done such a thing," said Tlathia sadly. "I'm so sorry."
Paco rolled one of the corpses over then unzipped the load-bearing vest the dead man wore. Its pockets were stuffed with loaded magazines and other gear. He pulled the vest over his own torso and zipped it up. "Sorry, brother, but I need this more than you right now."
Kargin knelt beside another corpse. "This one has been stabbed through the throat, and there are … swellings on his face and hands." He looked meaningfully at Tlathia. "Dread hornet stings, I think."
"That … is unfortunate," she replied softly.
"Cassie's not here," said Elizabeth hopefully. "Maybe she escaped."
"Look here," said Kargin. He stood before a tree trunk, prying something from its bark with his thick fingers. He then held up the object for the others to see, a needlelike feather or dart of some type. "First the dread hornets, now this. The puzzle begins to piece together."
"A manticore barb," said Tlathia with disgust.
Kargin handed the barb to Tlathia, shaking his head. "We both know who travels with mantico
res, don't we?"
"We knew my mother would send him. This changes nothing."
Elizabeth stared at the two of them. "Manticore? Like a cross between a lion and a bat, the kind that fly?"
"I don't know those words," Tlathia said. "Manticores are repulsive and dangerous, but they do not fly." She dropped the barb to the ground to lie among the fallen leaves.
Elizabeth channeled, levitating the barb near her face. She stared at it for several moments as it hung in the air, its sharp smell repulsive. Its needlelike tip looked like a hardened piece of bone, its rear like a crimson feather. She ceased channeling, and the barb fell to the ground.
When she looked up, Tlathia was staring at her, her yellow eyes large. "What did you just do?"
"I… what? I used telekinesis on the barb—at least that's what we call it. You know, lifting and manipulating objects."
"I do not know, Lizbeth-Chambers. I am as skilled in the mystic arts as any of my people, but I know of no fae seelie who can do … telekinesis, did you call it? Truly, you are a wonder. How much weight can you … move?"
"Well, hundreds of pounds now, maybe more. Really, with all your skill, you can't levitate objects?"
"Really. Perhaps we can learn from each other. Or perhaps your human magic is different from our fae seelie spells. There is much to ponder. What else, I now wonder, is different between our races?"
"I don't want to interrupt," said Corinna, "but you said manticores, plural? Someone uses monsters as pets?"
"Ulfir Dunwalker," Kargin practically snarled.
"My mother's mage-hunter. He's very dangerous."
"He'll be very dead if I get my hands on him," said Kargin with absolute seriousness.
"So this Ulfir Dunwalker hunts mages?" Leela asked. "Like us?"
"More like me," answered Tlathia. She met Elizabeth's eyes. "You remember I told you that almost all males born with inherent magical ability usually died, burning themselves out trying to master forces they were never meant to possess?"
"I do."
"Ulfir is the rare exception who has somehow learned to control his gift without killing himself. Perhaps because his magic is both weak and rare—he can track mages through their belongings."
"But we were careful," said Kargin. "You left nothing behind for him to track you. So how—"
"I don't know. But I don't think he was tracking me—or rather, not me exactly. I think he was drawn here by your friend, this Cassie, and her use of the ancient-one talisman."
"There are more of those barb things," said Paco, moving from one tree trunk to another, shining his penlight on them. "A lot more."
He was right, Elizabeth saw. Dozens of barbs jutted from the tree trunks.
Clyde barked from farther back in the woods, and Paco wandered after him.
"Manticores launch them from their tails," said Kargin. "When we hunt them, we wear leather over every bit of skin. Once you get close to the beasts, they die as easily as anything else, but you need to deal with the barbs first." He grinned. "Had a mate once that used to boil the barbs in his still to make hooch. Bit of a kicker that was. Think he died, though. Don't remember how—"
"H-H-Hey, everyone!" said Corinna, stuttering with fear. "Over here, qu-quick!"
Corinna stood farther back in the bushes, near a massive pine tree. Lying against the base of the tree was the burned red-furred carcass of a lionlike creature. It had four powerful feline legs, each ending in huge paws with long, curved yellow claws. The head was a cross between a lion and a lizard, with small glassy black eyes and jaws filled with fangs an inch long. A long, flowing black mane surrounded its head, running back along a powerful, scaled neck. The beast's long tail ended in a ball in which hundreds of barbs remained.
"Yup, manticore," said Kargin, staring at the creature's charred flank. "Looks like your mage got one. That leaves Ulfir only two." He snickered. "He'll be angry."
Elizabeth stared at the carcass. "But if Cassie did this, what happened to her?"
"Taken would be my guess," said Paco, joining them again, cradling a three-foot-long metal tube with handles. It was, she knew, an 84mm anti-tank recoilless rifle, the kind that civilians would have referred to as a bazooka but she knew was called a Carl Gustav or, more colloquially, a Carl-G. She had fired one once on the range, finding the experience thrilling.
She stared in surprise. "Where—"
He motioned with his head back into the bushes where Clyde had been barking. "Ammo cache hidden back there. There are a half dozen M-4 carbines and ammo crates. There's also a small crate of frag grenades and—wonder of wonders—a dozen sets of night-vision devices, ultra high-tech by the looks of them. I've never seen their like before. They're the strap-on kind but with four separate lenses."
"Ground panoramic night-vision goggles," said Elizabeth. "Task Force Devil had the best gear in the world. We trained with them a lot, like a crazy lot. I can check them out for you and show everyone how they work."
"Atta girl," said Paco. "Unfortunately, there were only two HEAT rockets for this bad boy, but way better than nothing, especially if we're fighting lion-lizard monsters as well as trolls and goblins. I suggest we take everything we can carry."
"How'd they get so much gear?" Elizabeth asked. "The entire base was asleep when the dragon hit."
"Couldn't tell you, but it looks like a small armory."
"You said they probably took prisoners," said Corinna. "Why do you think that? In Fort St. John, they slaughtered everyone they caught."
He tossed his head in the direction of the cliff overlooking the highway. "I counted thirteen separate fighting positions with ten distinct groupings of spent ammunition. With the six corpses we found, that leaves seven fighters unaccounted for. If Cassie was here—which seems likely—that makes at least eight prisoners."
"But why take them at all?" Elizabeth asked.
"Many reasons," said Tlathia, "all disturbing."
"Ulfir is a mage-hunter," said Kargin. "He'd have taken your friend for certain just because of what she is, a mage. The others … I don't know. He'd have no use for mundanes. Maybe he's curious because they're warriors—probably why he took their weapons as well. Maybe he just wants to torture them for sport."
"Mundane?" asked Corinna.
"Non-magical like you," answered Kargin. "But don't be offended. We dwarves are all mundane as well, and we're the best."
Paco placed the heavy Carl-G down on its tripod then lit a cigarette. "If I had to make a guess, I'd say that Cassie and the others had been here for some time, likely watching the highway. They'd have seen the refugees stream past. Maybe they decided to hold the line, so to speak, and set up an ambush here. But it looks like while they were focused on the boggarts on the highway, this Ulfir and his manticores ambushed them from behind. That's why the barbs are stuck in the trees."
"Ulfir is clever," said Tlathia. "He must have been looking for me and found your friends instead. I'm so sorry."
"We have to do something," insisted Elizabeth. "We have to help them."
"Agreed," said Tlathia. "Your friends face torture and death. And if we recover this Brace from Ulfir, I can cast a divination spell on it and use it to find other ancient ones."
"How?"
"Anyone who uses a magical item for long leaves a residue of themselves on it, similar to a cosmic shadow. A skilled mage can track that shadow."
"Well," mused Kargin, "we're going to need to deal with Ulfir sooner or later. I don't want him on our trail. We may as well kill him now on our terms. But he has a head start. He's probably halfway back to the river by now." He paused, rubbing his large nose and staring north, where a red glow burned on the horizon. "On the other hand, if the bridge is still impassable… how did they get across at all?"
Understanding flooded through Elizabeth. "The railroad bridge. They crossed the railroad bridge."
When they stared in confusion at her, she dropped down onto a knee, pulled her map from beneath her shirt, opened it up, an
d laid it out on the ground. Paco knelt beside her, shining his penlight on it. "Here." Elizabeth pointed to the railroad bridge she had crossed west of Taylor. "It's narrow but sturdy."
"My sister commands an army of thousands," said Tlathia. "If this bridge is narrow and isolated from the main road, she'd likely wait until it becomes passable once more. Armies do not adjust course quickly around obstacles, but a single cohort of boggarts and trolls…"
"And Ulfir—don't forget that freak and his pets," said Kargin.
"Five K to the bridge," said Paco, "but then they'll have to skirt the southern edge of the Peace Island Park and take Big Bam Road west for another three K or so. Then they're gonna have to cross the Pine River, a tributary of the Peace, and here's the only bridge across it. Let's say another three K northwest to this railroad bridge."
"Can we catch them?" Elizabeth asked.
Paco inhaled deeply, considering his answer. "At night, in the dark, it'll take them longer to hump that distance—especially if they're dragging prisoners, and even longer if there are wounded slowing them down."
"But can we catch them?"
"Depends on how fast these boggarts move." He looked at Kargin, but Elizabeth saw the answer in Kargin's eyes before he spoke.
"Boggarts are scum," he said, "but they can cover long distances at speed. They've got too much of a head start. If we had dwarven gyro-wings, perhaps we could catch them, but on foot…" He shook his head. "They'll be across the river before we see their damned backs. Besides..." He paused, glancing at Tlathia. "Even with magical healing, it's too far for—"
"Wait," said Tlathia. She stared at Elizabeth. "This bridge you speak of, you've been there before?"
"I have. I crossed it earlier this morning."
"Can you picture it clearly in your mind?"
"I … yes, I guess … why?"
Tlathia cast Kargin a sly glance. "What do you think, old friend?"
The dwarf grinned, his eyes gleaming. "Think I'm gonna make a manticore cape."
"Leave the manticores to me. You deal with Ulfir and Witch-Bane, or this will be a very short fight."
"I'll cleave his ugly skull for you."
"Actually, he's very handsome, but don't let that stop you from killing him."
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