Heroes

by David Leadbeater

  “I don’t think we quite expected this,” Felicia said with fear in her voice.

  Ken narrowed his eyes and squinted as hard as he could down the long, straight road. In the gray haze of the distance something was definitely coming.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  They weren’t big, they were small, about three feet tall, but there were thousands of them. A massive force. They resembled small devils and they carried spears. They leered with evil little mouths and yelled in grating tongues. They ran up the road on hind legs, never tiring, never changing course, just charging straight at the human army.

  Commander Glenn, the tentative leader of their great host, called military vehicles to the front and arrayed men all around them. They ranged twenty deep across the road. Ken was in the third rank. Guns bristled before and around him, hundreds pointed at the onrushing enemy.

  “Turn them little fuckers into red stew,” Glenn shouted from the top of a vehicle, and the army opened fire.

  Ken’s ears rang with the sound of bullets blasting. The front lines of their enemy were shredded, arms, legs and bodies tumbling away. The Defense Humvees and Stryker vehicles all opened fire too, further decimating the enemy. Many devils ran around the flanks and then streamed in at the army. Ken waited with the majority of men and women. Was this their adversaries’ way of depleting their armaments? Their numbers? Or both? He saw no sign of the devil army coming to an end ahead as more and more waded through what was left of their comrades.

  They were getting closer.

  Ken hefted the sword. Felicia withdrew her curved blades. Devils streamed around the sides of their army. Battles were fought. Ken was struck by how high these sprites could jump. They bounded from eight feet away, jumping over the heads of three rows and into the midst of the army, striking out with their spears and claws.

  Ken slashed one in mid-air, grabbed another as it landed on his shoulders, and threw it back into the air. Felicia was more accurate, swinging her blades and killing them as they came in to land. If any of the small demons came down among the army, they proved harder to combat, scurrying among legs and knees, biting, snapping and jabbing with spears.

  The army expanded, giving themselves more room. The small devils darted among them. Men and women fell, hamstringed, bitten, some with slashed arteries and broken bones. It was fiendishly hard to kill the little sprites.

  Ken found space, and formed a back-to-back defense with Felicia, Milo and a black-haired woman carrying two Glocks. Together, they killed anything that came at them and defended several other groups.

  It was hours before the devils stopped coming and the army had reasserted itself. Reports came down that over a thousand had been lost or wounded. The rest of the day passed in somber silence, with everyone keeping an eye to the roads of the skies. They didn’t believe the Devil would only strike once.

  “It’s getting close,” Ken said on what they hoped would be the final day of marching.

  “Finally,” Milo huffed.

  “I don’t mean Vegas. I mean the last stand of human and Uber kind.”

  “We’ve prepared for it,” Felicia said. “We’re ready. I’m looking forward to the day after we win.”

  Ken regarded her, smiling. It was so typical of the spirited lycan to see the bright side of everything. So perfect of her to see the coming freedoms over the approaching conflict.

  “Am I included in those plans?” he asked, keeping it light.

  “You are those plans.” Felicia laughed and punched him on the arm. “For a while at least.”

  “No better place to start a relationship than Vegas,” Ken said and then frowned. “Actually, that’s probably not true.”

  “I have to say one thing,” Milo put in. “Vegas is a better place to start one than hell.”

  Ken laughed again. “Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be spending any of our anniversaries revisiting hell.”

  Commander Glenn called the army to a halt as the light waned. “Join me tonight,” he shouted to all that could hear, mostly captains arrayed at the front of the columns. “And we’ll agree the final details. The more coordinated and communicative an army, the more effective it is. I’ll see you soon.”

  Ken wondered what tomorrow would bring.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  Amber and Jade had flown to the island of Kauai in Hawaii to find the elder, Harad, the only living elf they knew that might still have some insight into the whereabouts of the Old Ones.

  “It feels like a waste of time,” Jade said for perhaps the twentieth time since they landed on a dirt-track runway. “Don’t you think it feels like a waste of time, sister?”

  “No, the Old Ones could save us.”

  “We’d be better off training the Chosen, teaching them wider skills and honing their power. We’d be better lending our talents to fighting demons.”

  “And we would make a difference,” Amber said patiently. “We would save many. But, eventually, we would be overcome. And the Old Ones will never know what’s coming for them.”

  “They won’t help.”

  “They will help. They have to.”

  Rather than standing there bickering with her younger sister, Amber jumped into a taxi and gave the driver an address. Their journey took about forty minutes along a scenic coast road where Amber saw flat green fields to one side and beaches to the other. The driver was quiet until she asked him how Hawaii was faring.

  “No hellgates here,” he said. “We’ve had some of those flying things pay us a visit, but we have a fair size military presence that’s been deployed to all the islands. We’re surviving.”

  He didn’t offer any more and Amber didn’t ask. They’d traveled a long way in a short time and even her elvish fortitude was being tested. The cab went offroad for a short while before stopping outside a single-story home with a white façade, a short driveway and a high, white wall. The tall, solid black gates shouted: Keep out and the dirty, barred windows reinforced them.

  The driver sniffed. “Want me to wait?”

  Amber handed him some money. “No, we’ll be fine.”

  They exited the car into bright, hot sunshine. The ground was dusty and stony. The area was quiet, although overlooked by several other houses. Amber saw no signs of people, even using her sharp elvish senses.

  Jade rattled the locked gate. “No intercom.”

  “Harad was always a loner.”

  “Up and over?” Jade surveyed the wall.

  “Wait. Check again for prying eyes.”

  When they were both satisfied they weren’t being watched, the two sisters climbed the wall and leapt over. The earth was soft and loamy on the other side and smelled of mold. They walked right up to a pitted wooden front door.

  Jade knocked loudly, looking mildly affronted since they hadn’t been greeted. Harad’s senses should have picked up their approach. Nothing ever sneaked up on an elf.

  “He’s ignoring us,” she said needlessly.

  “You don’t say.” Amber stared at the barred windows and rotting eaves. Then she raised her voice. “I am Amber Essario and this is my sister, Jade. If you continue to ignore us, we will come inside. Your help is required right now. Required by all earth elves.”

  She waited a minute. Finally, there came the rattling of locks and a face appeared, wrinkled and unfriendly. “What do you want with me?”

  “Let us in and we’ll tell you,” Jade pushed the door wider and skipped past before Harad could stop her. “Wow, it stinks in here.”

  Amber cringed more than a little. “She has no filter, I’m afraid.”

  “I am an elder,” Harad said with dignity. “You are invading my solitude.”

  “Is that what this is?” Amber waved a hand, indicating that Harad should let her inside. “You choose solitude whilst the world expires?”

  “It is no concern of mine and, even if it were, I could do nothing to help.”

  They retreated into the study, surrounded by hardwood paneling and dusty bookc
ases. The light was filtered in here, giving the room a musty atmosphere.

  “You are the oldest elder we know,” Amber began, unwilling to stick with protocols and decorum. They had no time to beat around the bush. “The wisest, perhaps, and the most knowledgeable. It’s why we’re here.”

  “I have lived apart for more years than I care to count,” Harad said with a touch of regret, “but I can’t change that.”

  “That doesn’t matter now,” Jade said.

  “Nothing matters,” Amber interrupted, “except saving the world. We need your help.”

  Harad gawped and then scratched his head. “I really don’t follow.”

  “We’re looking for the Old Ones,” Amber said. “You must know where they are. Or, at least, you have some idea.”

  “The Old Ones?” Harad repeated. “But why? They won’t help you.”

  “That’s what I said,” Jade said.

  Amber bit her top lip. “That’s fine. Think that. But this is their world too. They still exist in it no matter how reclusively. And soon, it will become the eighth hell. The Old Ones have to be made aware and they must act.”

  “I can’t help you.”

  “We need information on the Ancients. Where they are. That is all. At least give them a chance, a choice.”

  Harad’s expression hadn’t changed since they met him. “The Old Ones forsook all contact with this planet. That was their oath. Their pledge. The only way they were able to fade from all consciousness. Two upstart girls can’t change thousands of years of ritual and tradition. You can’t destroy a custom laid down when the world was still young.”

  Amber reined in Jade’s wrath with a hard look. “We only want a location, not an invitation. We have to try. The best part of being alive is adapting to change.”

  “Well, that’s not true, young lady. But the Old Ones aren’t strictly alive. The best way I can describe them is faded. Not ghosts, but not strictly here on the astral plane. They have no physical needs. No desires.”

  “But they can touch?” Jade asked.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “That’s all we need.”

  “I don’t understand—”

  Amber took a step forward, grabbing Harad’s attention. “Old Elf,” she said. “Help us now. Help your own brethren, the ones that still live in this world. Help your dead king and queen. Shake off your torpor and start to live again.”

  Harad sat down on an old, leather-backed chair that creaked under his weight. “The Old Ones are a colony,” he said. “Governed by no one. There are elves, vampires, werewolves, faeries, imps, goblins and many more ancient creatures that have passed out of all knowledge. Among them are the greatest kings that ever were. Leaders that far surpass anything you have ever seen. Do you not think, if they wanted to know, that they would already be aware of what is coming?”

  Amber rubbed her temple. “They will want to know this.”

  “No, they won’t. I cannot help you.”

  “The Devil will enslave them too.”

  “The Devil has tried before, several times. The Old Ones didn’t resurface then. They will not do so now.”

  “Damn, you’re a cranky, stubborn old elf,” Jade exploded.

  “Stop cursing,” Amber told her sister. “Harad, please . . .”

  “I suggest you stop wasting your time with me and return to your family. I suggest you make the most of the time we have left. The Old Ones chose their lot long ago.”

  “That sounds like you blame them.”

  “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t agree with fading away. But, increasingly, I find myself compelled to do it.”

  Jade walked over to the window. “Can you give us any clues? Any help at all?”

  “Not me,” the old elf said. “Not this elf.”

  Amber cocked her head at him. “Not this elf?”

  “I can’t betray my bloodline. I can’t break their promises. But . . . there are those that might.”

  Amber clicked her fingers. “You’re pointing us toward the rebels, aren’t you?”

  “Really?” Jade sounded interested now.

  “Yes, of course. They were driven from the elven ranks a thousand years ago, around the time of the Domesday Book. Even then, Ubers wanted to be a greater part of the human world. They wanted to reveal themselves. Anyway, a great faction of the southern elves rose up, announcing they were going to announce the existence of Ubers. It took a large coalition of elves and other Ubers to put them down. Ever since, the survivors, called the Rebel Elves, have lived apart from the rest of us, licking their wounds. Of course, some that fought that day won’t forgive.” She looked at Hadar. “Do you think they’ll help us?”

  “They are your only chance. They are rebels, of course. And they want to go on living. Perhaps, they will be happy to betray the brethren that betrayed them.”

  Amber nodded. She sensed some sympathy toward the Rebel Elves and their plight in this man. But his principles were resolute.

  She signaled Jade. “Let’s go.”

  “You know where they are?”

  “Oh, come on, don’t you? Don’t you remember your schooling?”

  “I did sleep through a lot of the old, boring stuff.”

  “And that doesn’t surprise me. Come on, we’re going to Brazil.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  They crossed to Brazil, where packs of demons already roamed the streets of the bigger cities. It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the places where hellgates had opened, but it was far from safe.

  Amber had no means of contacting the rebels, and no confirmation that her memories of a decade ago still held water. She half expected their airplane to be attacked in flight, but none of the hellgates were local and hadn’t admitted anywhere near enough flying demons yet to patrol the skies of the entire planet.

  Amber and Jade felt far from home as they landed amid the Brazilian rainforest and started trekking the muddy trails. They both had homes, gardens and bedrooms where memories of a great upbringing and images of their childhood were kept. There was a framed print on Jade’s wall from her father that she would always hold in her heart, a print that held a special message, promising that no matter what her father would always be with her. Elegant paintings and photographs of horses hung on Amber’s walls; the animals had been her childhood dream. One of her current adult dreams was that she would get to ride one again someday.

  They made camp on the first night, chatting of home and their parents.

  “Do you think D still snores?” Amber said with a fond smile. “And keeps Mum awake?”

  “Not after she learned martial arts.” Jade gave a mischievous grin. “Or so I like to think.”

  They shared a quiet, personal night under the stars before contining their journey. The forest was loud, wet and disconcerting. Amber followed a compass heading, but even so got turned around twice.

  As that afternoon brought yet another rain shower, Amber sensed a threat. Jade made a noise to say she’d heard it too. They slowed and crouched among the underbrush. They waited. It wasn’t long before a face emerged from the greenery to their right and another straight ahead. Two more looked down from the green canopy above.

  They were elvish faces.

  “How did you find us?” one asked.

  “We knew exactly where to look.”

  “And we knew if we weren’t elves, you’d never have allowed us to see you,” Jade put in. “It’s how you’ve survived all these years.”

  “What do you want?”

  “We need to talk to your leaders. Your elders. If you don’t help us now, the world will be lost.”

  *

  As night fell, Amber and Jade were seated cross-legged in the middle of a wide, circular clearing. The grass had been razed, leaving dry dirt, but not so much that it would be noticed by man. An elvish spell stopped the rain from falling in this place and hid various dwellings from prying eyes. Amber counted treehouses in their dozens, which put the count of rebel elves to at least
forty. Probably more.

  Two older elves sat opposite them, also cross-legged and smiling. There was no animosity here. The rebels looked glad of the company.

  “We need your help,” Amber began and repeated much of the story she’d told Harad. Of course, these rebels were abroad in the world. They already knew much of what was happening.

  “You seek the Old Ones?” Their male elder looked surprised. “Why?”

  “We seek their counsel and their help,” Amber said.

  “They want nothing more to do with the world of man,” the older female said. “Or woman.”

  Amber sat forward. “Elaina,” she said, “they are the only ones left that can save us. The Library of Aegis is gone, burned to the ground. No one alive is as knowledgeable as the Old Ones. They must know something.”

  “I am sure if they did, they would have left a script behind at the library,” Edric, the male elf, said.

  “Not necessarily,” Jade said. “They were weary with their world. Done with it. Apathy set in. My guess – they didn’t care.”

  “And what makes you believe they will care now?” Elaina asked.

  “A sharp shock,” Jade said. “The same thing they needed a thousand years ago, it seems.”

  Amber threw her sister a look of warning. “If you help us, the world will owe you. I’m sure you’re aware of what is happening as close to you as Rio. The Devil and all his denizens will reach you soon enough.”

  Both Elaina and Edric were silent for a while. Others gathered around. Amber saw four youngsters that couldn’t be above the age of ten, fire in their eyes and mischief on their faces. They had no idea what was coming for them.

  “Hey.” Jade glanced at one of the youngsters carrying a ragged old yellow bear who plonked down next to her, looking tired. “How old are you?”

  “Seven,” came the reply.

  Amber used it as a cue to push the village elders. “This world is yet young,” she said. “How about you help us let it grow old?”

  Edric sat back and took in his environment, the clearing, the trees, the houses. In reality, nobody wanted to die. Even the Old Ones couldn’t bear to cease to exist, which Amber thought was the key to obtaining their help.