Banshee Screams

by Clay Griffith

  The Night Watchmen shuffled their weapons in their hands and looked at each other. They aimed reluctantly in Debbi's general direction.

  Fairchild could see the disassociated glaze in Debbi's eyes. He wisely raised his hands out to the sides, away from his sidearm. He inclined his head; graciously sympathetic to a hard-nosed opponent who just didn't yet realize she was outmaneuvered.

  "You've lost, Ranger." Fairchild stepped away from the door. "I'm going out that door to the Reaper camp to accept Nicolai's offer to join the Banshee Free State. The Town Council has voted on this. It is the law of the land. Stand down."

  Debbi smirked. Her gun stayed up.

  Fairchild asked, "Are you shell-shocked? Do you understand me?"

  Debbi slowly nodded.

  He said, "The town has turned against the Rangers. But if you put the gun down, I will personally guarantee the safety of your people when the Reapers move into town."

  "If you open that door, I'll shoot you," Debbi calmly stated.

  Fairchild grinned. "You seem disoriented. There are five Night Watchmen pointing weapons at you. You're outgunned."

  Debbi kept her shaky arm as stable as possible. The laser sight didn't move from Fairchild's chest.

  Fairchild shouted, "Do you want to die here?"

  "Do you?"

  The Mine Administrator was flummoxed. He narrowed his eyes at Debbi. "Are you insane? All I have to do is give the word."

  "Then give it."

  He looked at the Watchmen. "Disarm her."

  They shuffled their feet and looked nervous.

  "Disarm her!" Fairchild screamed. Then he noticed a second red laser dot on his chest.

  He looked up to see Holt aiming the Ranger Dragoon down at him. The Night Watchman's face was etched with resolved unhappiness.

  "What the hell are you doing, Holt?" Fairchild demanded. "You know what will happen to all of you if the Reapers take this town by force. And you know they will."

  "I know," Holt said with resignation. "She risked her life for one of us. I know it doesn't make sense, but there you are."

  The Watchmen dropped their weapons to their sides.

  Ringo snatched his Dragoon from Holt and raced down the ladder. He joined Debbi in the street, a grin plastered on his face and his weapon aimed at Fairchild.

  "Dallas," he said, "that was the most amazing thing I ever saw!"

  Debbi's voice was a soft whisper. "Thanks. Make sure your gun stays on him."

  "Okay. Why?"

  Debbi dropped her arm in exhaustion. "Because mine doesn't have any ammo in it."

  "Are you sure?" Coltrane leaned forward on his throne.

  Avernus responded, "Yes. She is still alive."

  Coltrane sat back and allowed a smug grin to crack his necrotic face. "Still. The Reapers are already attacking Temptation. The town can't withstand my full army. I've thought of everything. I own Temptation now. I think you will be treating me with more respect, Avernus."

  Avernus slowly turned his head. Wisps of energy slipped from the edges of his eyes.

  Coltrane felt something odd under his skin. The parasites beneath his flesh began to scurry about. They always moved, but now they had a frenzied pace.

  "What's happening?" Coltrane pressed his scaly fingers against his trembling cheek.

  Avernus continued to stare at his protege.

  Coltrane felt a sharp pain in his right hand. He pulled back the sleeve of his robe. A blister rose and popped, revealing a grub-like creature wriggling to the surface. It slithered out onto his hand where wings uncoiled wetly from around its abdomen. With a few flutters, the wings became rigid and the insect flew away.

  Coltrane watched the parasite flitter into the darkness over his head. He felt more sharp pops all over his body. He could sense the little creatures crawling across his skin. Many of them dropped to the floor where they unwrapped their wings and took to flight.

  The stunning silence of the room was broken only by the dry clatter of insect wings beating the air and wet popping sounds as more grubs bored free of Coltrane's flesh. He scraped his hands across his face and came away with scores of the little things. He took a step toward Avernus. His knees wobbled and his vision wavered.

  "What are you doing to me?" Coltrane snarled. He took another faltering step like a child learning to walk or an old man failing in health.

  The parasites fled him in a swarm. Dark, black blood poured from the wounds they left in their wake and drizzled over Coltrane's unsteady feet. With the next step, his weakened foot slipped in the blood and he crashed to the hard floor.

  "I'll kill you." Coltrane's words were slurred. He placed his pulpy hands against the floor and tried to push himself to his knees. "You won't take my power. I won't let you."

  Coltrane fell back to the floor. His heaving breath created ripples in the pool of blood in which his face rested. He no longer felt the parasites wriggling in his body. Only an agonizing emptiness remained.

  Avernus looked up into the darkness of the tannis chamber and opened his mouth wide. The insects swirled, coalescing into a single body in flight. Then they dove as a white mass into the mouth of the Fallen. For more than a minute, the stream of winged bugs swept inside Avernus until finally they had all vanished into his mouth. The Fallen closed his mouth and calmly regarded the bloody mess on the floor that had been his servant.

  Coltrane felt one last tug of skin on his face. With surprising speed, he grasped the insect as it erupted from the churned flesh of his cheek.

  Coltrane laughed and extended his fist containing the bug. "Hah! I've beaten you. I'm Jesse Coltrane and I take what I want."

  He put the fist to his mouth and shoved the bug inside. He felt it wriggling. With great concentration, he bit down and felt it crunch between his sharp teeth. He grinned and swallowed.

  Unimpressed, Avernus turned and departed the great tannis chamber.

  Coltrane kept breathing. All things considered, he felt it was a victory. As long as Coltrane was breathing, he had a chance to counterattack.

  He'd been in worse straits than this. Any of the other Fallen would no doubt welcome his alliance to strike at Avernus. He'd have his revenge yet.

  He heard a soft clicking.

  Two gray feet with sharp, prominent nails on the large toes stepped into his field of vision.

  "Do you need help?" Coltrane heard from his mouth, but they were the words of Tekkeng who stood close by. And he knew there wasn't an ounce of sincerity in his speech.

  Coltrane recovered his own voice and muttered, "Avernus...betrayed us."

  Tekkeng squatted next to the bloody Coltrane. His large black eyes stared into the pale pink eyes of the wounded man.

  With horror, Coltrane heard himself say, "Humans. I have never liked them."

  Tekkeng reached out with clawed hands, energy swirling around his fingertips.

  Coltrane screamed.

  The walls of Temptation were visible in the distant night. Rumbling explosions and the distant chatter of small arms fire drifted across the desert.

  Nicolai said, "History will remember this day."

  Baku nodded perfunctorily, present but unheeded at this great moment.

  Nicolai turned to his silent lieutenant. "Signal ready to First Battalion. And hold Kasaar's cavalry on our right flank." His tank roared to life, spewing blue smoke. The Banshee Free State flag was tied to the aerial and it fluttered in the desert wind. "Send the Crimson Raiders against the north gate."

  Nicolai leapt onto the tank as Baku went to a nearby radio operator. The armored vehicle spun left and threw sand from its treads. The Vanguard ran along beside the tank as it roared along the forward face of the camp until it reached the formation of the gathering First Battalion. The finest soldiers in Nicolai's possession, they were his core weapon. They crowded around as the tank as it rocked to a stop and idled down.

  Nicolai was handed a microphone attached to loudspeakers. "Reapers! The gates of Temptation are overripe and rott
en! I have delivered the city to us and I will lead you, my finest troops, to capture our greatest prize! Follow me to glory!" He drew his saber and pointed at the city. "I have only one request of you - blood and more blood!"

  The tank wheeled and started across the desert, leading the advance on the helpless city. The companies of the First Battalion streamed after on foot. In the distance to his right, Nicolai saw a horde of Azeel on chanouks break camp and begin the two-mile trot toward Temptation.

  This was it, Nicolai thought. The beginning of the end.

  Chapter 34

  With each second, the Reaper army streamed across the desert and roared closer to Temptation.

  Debbi limped to one of the heavy cannons mounted on the wall. She slipped into the gunner's chair and sighted Nicolai's tank. When she pulled levers, mechanisms failed to respond.

  "Damn it! They spiked the guns!" Debbi clicked her com unit and swore again. "They're jamming us."

  She looked around. Ringo and Holt watched her expectantly. Ringo's eyes slipped from her to the approaching Reapers and back to her. The other militiamen had run away when the Reaper attack started.

  Debbi grabbed Ringo's shoulder. "We've got no communication here so you've got to get word to the Rangers about the situation. We need air support to hold this gate. Holt, get whatever militia you can find and set up a perimeter at St. Calixtus because we won't hold them here for long."

  Holt nodded and Ringo exclaimed, "What about you?"

  "I'll stay and do what I can to hold them up."

  The young man stared at her with a stupefied look. "That's an army, Dallas! Come on, you've got to come with me!"

  "Just go! Hurry!" She shoved him to the ladder.

  Ringo looked back at her. Holt tugged his arm impatiently. Debbi gave the kid a grim nod and motioned him away. With a face frozen in horror, Ringo descended the ladder and raced into town with the Night Watch captain at his side.

  Debbi turned back to the wall. She had a couple of loaded pulse rifles and several grenades; she might be able to take out Nicolai's tank. But her main target had to be Nicolai. She watched the outline of his figure riding atop the tank. Obviously he thought Fairchild and his turncoats were on the wall and he was safe from fire. This allowed him to play the bold, fearless leader. In fact, he probably expected the gates to be open for him. Even so, his tank could blast through it easily enough.

  Debbi smiled grimly. The Reaper chief was too far away for a sure shot. Yet. She propped her Hellrazor rifles against the wall and waited, easing the weight off her injured leg. She steadfastly ignored the pain it was sending. She had done some quick field care on it and pumped it with a local anesthetic. It was useable and the pain was manageable. She just needed to hold together for a little while longer.

  Suddenly something in the distant darkness caught her eye. A strange mass moved in the darkness west of the advancing Reaper mob. Wave after wave of shapes reflected the moonlight. It was as if they appeared out of nowhere. Debbi snatched a pair of binoculars off the floor and trained them out into the night.

  Barely a mile from the town walls a strange, well-ordered army had appeared in the night. It was quick marching to strike the Reapers' left flank. The mysterious army was completely afoot, organized into mobile infantry squares like a painting from Earth's Baroque era. Their movements were extraordinarily orderly, almost lockstep, but their uniforms were torn and tattered. Many of them wore little more than rags. The soldiers in the first three ranks were armed with pulse rifles and small arms, but Debbi saw that most of those behind were empty handed. They had no weapons at all. The front rank was at least one hundred across and she couldn't yet make out the depth of the formation in the darkness. In the distance, she could barely make out the vague shape of a second square moving to slam the Reapers' unprotected rear. This army was well over a mile from contact with the Reapers, but already they were charging full out in perfect unison.

  The left flank of the Reapers became aware of the approaching threat. Many of the Reaper army managed to wheel to confront the oncoming threat. Others carried on as before, either assuming the newcomers were their own forces or simply consumed by the bloodlust to reach Temptation. The Reaper formation, which was ragged to begin with, broke even further as men and vehicles turned haphazardly, creating confusion among the ranks.

  Even Nicolai's tank, which had been out in front of his First Battalion, pivoted to face this new enemy. Nicolai studied this strange enemy through binoculars and then climbed down inside the turret and closed the hatch. The tank opened up with the long gun and blew holes in the forward ranks of the oncoming horde. But that did nothing to staunch the fearless charge.

  When the two armies were half a mile apart, the shooting began in earnest. The assault on Temptation ground to a virtual halt. The Reapers were far better armed, including numerous small armored vehicles with cannons and heavy machine guns. They opened a merciless barrage on the encroaching enemy.

  The front ranks of the dark army staggered under the withering fire. They fell to the ground. Others dropped to their knees. But then they got back onto their feet and rejoined the charge. Incredibly, some pressed forward even without arms, with gaping wounds in their chests, and sometimes without a leg or a piece of their leg. They continued firing from the hip while maintaining their headlong run into the Reapers' fusillade.

  By a quarter mile separation, the Reapers showed serious problems with resolve. Their flank bowed inward. Men fell back in the face of the onrushing assault. The Reapers' fire began to go wild. The closer the enemy came, the fewer hits the Reapers scored. The chaotic situation inside the Reapers began to claim victims as friendly fire chewed up the unsuspecting. The mysterious attackers closed the gap rapidly despite many gruesome injuries. They had been charging for nearly two miles with no sign of fatigue.

  Suddenly the main square of the dark army began to glow with a faint green phosphorescent hue. A streak of green light lashed out from the square, so fast it might have been a mirage except that there was a colossal explosion in the midst of the Reaper formations. Bodies flew. Vehicles spun and reversed. A second flash of light arced across the diminishing killing ground and slashed into the Reapers, tearing and ripping them into pieces.

  On the wall of Temptation, Debbi almost doubted she'd seen it. But she could smell the sharp tinge of ozone in the air. Only sykers could fight like that. But there was no syker army left on Banshee. However, at the moment these questions did not disturb her. Instead, she felt a giddy thrill knowing that every minute of the slaughter insured the Reapers would not take Temptation.

  When the two armies collided, the Reapers were already in ebb and the clash only propelled them into a broken retreat. But as the mercenaries and revolutionaries of the First Battalion started to stream back, they found nowhere to go because, amazingly, their own allied Azeel cavalry struck them from the rear. The chanouk-borne warriors lashed through their shocked Reaper brothers with lance, gun, and claw. It didn't seem as if the Azeel were caught in a bloodlust to close with the strange enemy and were willing to charge through their own troops to get at them. Rather, the Azeel were attacking the other Reapers as if they had suddenly changed sides.

  Debbi continued to watch the bloody melee with horrified fascination. Even the worst evaluation of Reapers as ragtag mercenaries with no staying power couldn't explain the savage breakdown they were undergoing on the plain outside Temptation unless the mysterious army were sykers and were using their powers to break the Reapers from the inside as well as attacking them in conventional ways. The dark soldiers began to arm themselves with weapons wrenched from dead and dying Reapers and they set on the Azeel, mowing the anouks down like ripe grain. The remnants of the Azeel cavalry fled the field, racing with the remaining Reapers for safety.

  The hatch on Nicolai's tank swung open and the Reaper chieftain emerged with pistol in his hand. He stared back briefly into the turret and then scanned the surrounding melee. His forces were in chaos. A contin
gent of the enemy troopers broke from the main battle. They moved as one, like a school of fish, toward the tank. There were at least thirty of them, all armed, and they ran and fired from the hip, obviously trying to kill Nicolai. The Reaper lord yelled something as he leapt from the tank. Ten of his Vanguard moved to intercept the oncoming assassins. The remaining five automatons surrounded Nicolai as he sprinted for Temptation's gate.

  Debbi smiled evilly as she watched the revolutionary coming in her way and she reflected how different it was from the last time he appeared outside the gates of Temptation. This time though, he would get in.

  Nicolai hit the door next to the gate and found it unlocked as he expected. He and his Vanguard raced into the city. He glanced around hurriedly for signs of the reception he'd been led to expect from his secret communication with Fairchild. He was surprised that only one person was waiting for him.

  "Throw up your hands or you're dead!" Debbi shouted with relish as she stepped from behind the door.

  The Vanguard spun as one and aimed their weapons at the Ranger. Debbi was partially shielded by a wooden pillar.

  "If it starts, you're first, Nicolai!" Debbi warned, letting a red laser sight play over his face.

  Nicolai called out, "Cease!" and the Vanguard slowly lowered their rifles.

  Nicolai looked around. He was clearly surprised by the reception, or the lack of a friendly reception by militiamen loyal to Fairchild.

  "Sorry," Debbi said. "I'm the only one here to meet you. Tell your boys to drop their guns. And you too"

  Nicolai complied, setting his pistol at his feet, and the Vanguard let their rifles clatter to the dusty ground.

  "You are under arrest." Debbi actually smiled. "All of you back up ten feet and lay down on your faces."

  Nicolai announced with admirably steady pretense despite his predicament, "I am president of the Banshee Free State. I'm entitled to treatment befitting a visiting head of state."

  "Then back up and get on your face, Mr. President! Or I will shoot you dead."