Soulguard

by Christopher Woods

  We began forming the Soulbombs and lobbing them outside.

  “Fire in the hole!”

  We cut the tethers on a hundred and thirty Soulbombs and there was a tremendous roar outside of the shield as the blast wave destroyed everything within a hundred feet around the shield.

  Immediately, I pushed the shield out to that point and began crafting two twelve inch tendrils, One was at the end of the weave I’d used for my shield and the other was ten feet out along the tendril I used to feed it.

  I stopped, inches above the ground with my tendrils and motioned to Gregor. I lit up an arch at the north end of the shield and one at the south.

  “I need a shield about six inches inside of those spots but don’t let them touch my shield.”

  “What the hell are you doing?” he asked.

  “We need this shield to stand without a Mage, I’m tying it to the Source.”

  “God Damn it, Colin,” he exclaimed, “It took twenty five Mages to make the Dome. You’re gonna do this by yourself?”

  “You gotta point,” I said, “Sam, Darrel, Paige, I may need support. Be ready if I do.”

  “You got it,” Darrel said and Sam nodded. Paige walked over and stood at my right shoulder, prepared.

  “Thank you,” I turned to Gregor, who just shook his head and placed the shields where I had asked. I opened the areas in my shield on the other side of his shields.

  “It’s a matter of timing, you see...”

  I slammed the end tendril into the Source. Power surged up the shield and quickly flowed toward me. Just before it reached me I slammed the second tendril in and severed my link. I was a tiny bit slow and the power recoil slammed into me, throwing me backwards twenty feet. But the power had not entered me, so I was fine.

  The shield flowed with power from a twelve inch stream. Nothing was piercing that.

  “Crazy bastard,” Sam was muttering as he picked himself up. Apparently he had been right behind me.

  The helicopters got closer and I could see the Souls of Guards and one Soul I recognized the moment I saw it.

  I was smiling when Rictor walked up, “You blew yourself up again?”

  I shrugged, “Hadn’t done it in a while, thought it was time.”

  He chuckled, “So who you think is in the choppers?”

  I grinned, “You’ll see.”

  The choppers began hovering and Guards started dropping from them, down into the shielded area. Rictor’s eyes widened and surprise rolled across his aura as he heard a familiar scream as one of the forms jumped from the helicopter.

  “I’d know that screech anywhere!” I heard Jacobs yelling, “Somebody help me sit up, Damnit!”

  Paige headed back over and tried to get the man to calm down.

  “You don’t understand, darlin, that’s the Kid!” he kept trying to sit up, “If the Boss is turning the Kid loose out there, I gotta see it! Lean me on Lewis, there, he’s big enough to prop against!”

  As the small man landed, his scream stopped and he stepped forward with a sheepish look. He was still the wiry little guy we knew and loved. But there was a sadness in him as well.

  He looked at me and gave a little smile, “Boss.”

  “Hey Kid, glad you could come to the party,” I said with a grin, “Where’d you get all these Guards?”

  “Denver and Sacramento. Olliver and Sanders are both on the last chopper, there.”

  “Good,” I nodded to him, “The more, the merrier.”

  All told, they brought a hundred and fifty more Guards with the three Mages.

  I heard Paige still talking to Jacobs, “That’s just Kevin, what are you talking about?”

  “That’s a good question,” Gregor said to me, “You said Kevin had improved a lot but everyone seems to be jumping for joy here.”

  “Just give it a few minutes and you’ll see why,” I said with a laugh.

  Chapter 58

  “This is what I want,” I said with my voice amped, “Kid, you’ll have the Denver guys and I need a Mage for backup.”

  Sanders stepped forward, “I’ll back him.”

  “Ok take twenty five of the Sacramento guys as well. I want about twenty or so around the backup Mage and the rest in diamond formation on the Kid.”

  “I want to send out three waves of us, You guys get the first run. Then I go with the Rednecks. Sam, you want to do support on this one?”

  “You got it.”

  “Bring ten of your Guards to finish out my numbers, Ramirez!” I yelled, turning to him, “Get fifteen guys for the backup group’s defense.”

  “Got it Boss.”

  “Third wave is Gregor and the Elites with Daphne’s troops as well. Olliver, you ready for the Backup spot there?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Darrel, you and Paige are the Gatekeepers. Darrel on the north and Paige on the South.”

  They both nodded.

  “Everyone get set, work out your positions, first wave goes in two minutes.”

  I nodded to the Kid and pointed with both arms, “This area, all the way out and back. Anything in that area is crispy. How’re you feeling?”

  “Scared shitless.”

  “Good. What do you see out there?”

  “A target rich environment, Sir,” he answered with grin.

  “Ready?”

  He nodded and I pointed to the north gate, “On my mark, open the gate!”

  The Kid stepped to the middle of his group. I could see the fear spike.

  “Mark!”

  The gate dropped and the Guards poured out, slaughtering anything in the immediate area. Then the Kid screamed in terror and shot forward. As soon as he passed the lead Guard, I felt him Pull so hard it made my teeth hurt. He exploded with power and everything within a fifty foot area in front of him was incinerated. He never even slowed down as he shot forward, and his Pull never decreased.

  When I fight, there are times when I’m Pulling hard and others when I’m not. It fluctuates some but the Kid doesn’t.

  “Dear God,” Gregor muttered beside me, “I could do that for maybe three minutes. Won’t he burn out?”

  “He’s a frigging machine, Greg,” I answered, “He goes till he does what he sets out to do.”

  He shook his head sadly, “Nora told me this would happen.”

  “What’s that?”

  “She said, after you left the Academy, that we’d be support Mages before this was done. I laughed at her because I’ve bought into my own reputation of being the second most powerful Mage in the US. I wish she was here to say I told you so.”

  “Me too, Greg,” I said softly.

  The Kid reached the outer edge of the horde and the whole formation turned and swept back toward us. Sanders burned a Wraith that was coming from the side.

  “Looks like it’s our turn,” I said, “After the Kid calms down a minute, tell him he did great for me, I’m gonna be a bit busy.”

  I headed to the front of the Rednecks. Ric stood to my left and Prada to the right.

  I drew two swords I had gotten from Lewis. He was wounded and he knew I’d melted mine. I looked out at the horde of Demons and let the Rage wash over me.

  “Friggin growling...” I heard from off toward the Guards I hadn’t worked with before.

  “That’s a good sign,” I heard Daphne chuckling.

  Then the Kid and his group were inside and I let the beast out of its cage. With a howl of fury I shot out the opening with a hundred Guards and Sam Keller right behind me. We ripped into the Demons and I reveled in the slaughter.

  This is what I’m made for. This is what I’m good at and I could actually let the rage out completely. We ripped through the horde of Demons, straight toward the outer limits of the horde. I saw a Wraith but Sam burned it down, so I continued forward.

  As soon as we broke through, we turned left and headed back in. We were about halfway back when a Wraith hit our line right beside me. Prada and Ramirez both were grabbed and thrown out into the hor
de about fifty feet ahead of us. My rage spiked and I hit the focus point the Kid had told me about.

  The world slowed to a crawl, and my blade removed the Wraith’s head. I leapt to where Prada and Ramirez landed. The soldiers around them were inches from the downed Guards. I grasped the back of their armor and hurled them both back into our Guards’ ranks.

  It seemed like I had infinite time as I leapt out of the group of Demons. I surveyed the field around us to see a wedge of ten Wraiths heading straight for us. Before I even landed, I opened up with all six launchers at six different targets. My Soullance slammed into a seventh. And two fireballers hammered two more.

  They were right in front of the shield and I charged the last Wraith with my fists glowing with Soulfire.

  I passed on the right side of the beast and my left arm ripped through the bastard’s midsection, tearing the Wraith almost in half.

  Then we were inside and I was standing there with my chest heaving as I beat the rage down.

  “Keeping that?” Kharl asked as he went by me, toward the door. I looked down and found the spine of the last Wraith dangling from my left hand.

  “Hmm,” I shook my head, trying to clear some of the rage and turned to find all of my Guards with rage slowly subsiding from their auras. They had bloodshot eyes and veins standing out on them. Apparently, I’d projected much more than just my movements to them this time.

  “Damn, Boss,” Ric muttered as he got his rampaging emotions under control.

  “Thought I was a goner,” Prada said as she walked up. She looked at me for a second and kissed me, “Thanks.”

  There were several whistles and jeers as she walked back to her previous spot.

  “Thanks, Boss,” Ramirez said, “I’ll kiss you if you want but I’d rather not.”

  “Nah, that’s ok, Luis,” I said with raised hands.

  I turned around to see the third wave head out the opening. I heard Gregor mumbling as he went out.

  “I’m retiring, I swear it. I’m a frigging dinosaur.”

  “I think we all are, Greg,” Kharl answered.

  Kharl was at the point position and he charged into the horde of Demons to do what he’s always been a master of. The others followed him flawlessly and Greg burned several Wraiths as they made their pass.

  There was a bit of power built up inside me so I headed for the wounded to heal them and get rid of any excess power. If there is one group I’m not worried about it’s the Elites and Greg. They’ve been fighting Demons for over a hundred years.

  The thing that bothered me the most about them was the fact that Jack Riordan and Tien Yueh weren’t present and I dreaded asking the questions I would have to later.

  As I neared them I heard Jacobs talking to Paige, “That’s what I was talking bout. I couldn’t miss that, now, could I?”

  As I finished stabilizing the new wounded Guards, Rictor approached.

  “How many did we lose?”

  “Three dead, seven wounded.” He said, “Would have been more if you hadn’t projected that rage. I mentioned it to the others and it was like it gave us more speed and focus. Definitely a new way to do things.”

  I turned to the door as the Elites re-entered our shield.

  “All right, Kid, South door this time,” My voice boomed and the Kid’s group hit the south door to do much the same as they’d done to the north.

  We each made three trips out into that horde and their numbers just seemed endless. More and more were flooding from the giant gateway.

  “They’ll bleed us dry,” I said to Kharl and Gregor, “We can’t keep doing this as long as that gate is spewing Demons.”

  “We don’t have many choices, here, Son.”

  “I know,” I answered, “I have to get a look at that Gate. If we can shut that thing down we can work on killing the rest of em then.”

  “Next runs will be west then,” Kharl said, “That’ll give you a chance to look it over.”

  “Kid!” I yelled and Kevin headed our way.

  “Boss?”

  “I’m shadowing your next run, I want a look at that gate aver there. When we get there I need a shield and we’ll pause long enough for me to look at it. Have Sanders do the shield.”

  “Yes Sir,” He turned and started giving orders. A large swell of pride surged through me as I watched him.

  I turned back to Kharl and Greg, “Hold down the fort till we get back and we’ll see what’s what then.”

  “Ric! I need ten with me. We’re shadowing the Kid to look at this gate.”

  “Gotcha, Boss,” He turned and barked out names. There was no point in asking for volunteers, we were all volunteers already.

  In a few moments we were all ready, “Hit it, Kid!”

  The Guards shot out the north door and turned west. The kid screamed and shot forward, exploding with firepower.

  I beat down my rage and held to the back of the group. I poured disks into a Wraith that tried to hit us from the side and it stumbled and fell in a flaming heap.

  After a bit, we were right up beside the Gate and it was huge when you’re standing right beside it.

  “Shield!”

  Sanders pushed a shield out and opened his portal to solidify it. The Guards made short work of the Demons inside of the perimeter.

  My eyes were on the giant portal. There were twenty huge cable-like tendrils that seemed to flow from inside of it and join the outer ring of the portal. Maybe if I could cut those the portal would collapse. I opened up my Soullance and fired into one of the tendrils. A small fray showed where I shot but that was all, so I Pulled hard and poured the power to the lance. The fray grew a tiny bit but there was no way I had enough power to cut it.

  I felt that cutting the cables would be the only way of shutting the thing down. I’m not sure all the Mages we had here could combine and cut the things.

  “Ok, men, we can fall back to the shield.”

  The Kid nodded and Sanders dropped the shield. The Kid screamed once more and exploded out to the front again.

  “I can’t help it, I love to see that boy work,” Rictor said, running beside me.

  “It’s like a work of art,” I returned.

  Chapter 59

  “The power cables are tough on that thing. I can’t get enough power into my lance to cut it. That’s the strongest thing I have.”

  “Is it the design or just not enough power?” asked Greg.

  “Definitely power, the design will work with whatever power I can pour through it.”

  The Kid was out in the horde again with his Guards. I was standing with Kharl, Ric, Daphne, Caprida, Sam and Greg. We were close to the injured and Kyra motioned for me to come to her.

  “Mom?”

  “You just pulled power through our streams to heal us, Son,” she said, “Can you Pull it and use it instead?”

  My mouth dropped open. It hadn’t even occurred to me to try something like that. Two hundred Guards would channel a hell of a lot of power.

  I hugged her, “You’re a genius, Mom.”

  “I know,” she said, “Now go clear up this mess. My side hurts and I want to go home and retire. I’m too old for this shit.”

  I returned to the group and Rictor said, “He’s got that let’s experiment look on his face.”

  “Oh dear,” Daphne muttered, “Now it begins.”

  “Ric, I need a volunteer for some craziness,” I said as I rejoined them.

  “Let’s do it, Boss.”

  I love freaking Marines.

  “When I Pull, all I want you to do is focus on not letting power from it enter you. I want you to focus on a point twenty feet above my head and when you feel it come up your stream, steer it there.”

  He had a huge grin on his face.

  “Ready?”

  “Hell yeah. Light the fire.”

  I reached into his stream with my mind and Pulled much harder than I had done for the wounded. I watched as it rose and veered out of Ric’s stream to a point abo
ve my head where it rolled out of the tendril he had formed with it.

  “You all right, Ric?”

  “This is what it feels like to Pull?” He asked with awe rolling across his aura, “It’s amazing, Boss.”

  I stopped my Pull and made my decision, “New game plan, boys and girls!”

  I turned to where the Kid had just entered the shield again with his troops, “I need a hundred guys here with the Kid. Sanders as support and Olliver to hold the gates. Everyone else, except the wounded, is invited to be a part of the biggest Pull ever attempted. Volunteers only! This could be the most incredibly insane plan in the world.”

  “I’m going to Pull power through everyone to power a way to destroy that gate. I don’t need to tell you what’s happening if the gate stays open. There are over a half a million Demons on the other side, intent on coming here and killing everyone.”

  “In five minutes, I’m going out that door,” I pointed toward the north opening, “What say we end this before more of our brothers and sisters have to die in this damn place?”

  The Guards roared as I turned to the Kid, “I want you to cause as much of a ruckus as you can stand over here. Come back here in between runs to rest, but I want crispy Demons everywhere. If we succeed there won’t be any more than what’s already here, so the numbers will actually dwindle. I need as many as you can get over here and pissed off.”

  “Yes, Sir,” He said and turned to his men, “You heard the man! Let’s go make some damn Demons irate!”

  “Sam,” I said as I headed for the door, “When we get there, you’re the shield bearer. All of the Mages will be support and all the Guards will be the battery. I’m the gun. Let’s get it done.”

  “Yes, Sir,” he said and smiled. I think he found it amusing to say that to someone seventy years his junior.

  I headed for the door. Gregor was waiting there with every Mage except the three I had designated to stay here.

  “Frigging support Mage,” he was mumbling as I walked up, “She was frigging right.”

  I laughed and turned to find that every single Guard who wasn’t under the Kid’s command was forming up with us.