After learning from her experience in Manassas, Kate no longer called the spirits forth and left the situation to chance. Instead, she found another way to deal with the problem.
She looked out at her new location, the battlefield of Chancellorsville. The moon was so bright it illuminated the rolling plain in front of her, as well as the cannons that marked infantry locations and the statues and memorials. She knew the number of dead here would also be high. After Antietam, Chancellorsville had been the site of the second bloodiest day of fighting. Like Manassas, it had also seen more than one battle, encompassing five different fights that had happened near here.
The most famous was one of the most stunning victories the Confederates ever had. Outnumbered roughly three-to-two, General Robert E. Lee employed a desperate and unusual strategy, dividing his army and sending most of his men for a flank attack on the Union. By all rights, the gamble shouldn’t have worked. It was considered suicide to divide one’s forces, potentially allowing the enemy to crush half of one’s army with its superior numbers.
But whether due to luck, the brilliance of “Stonewall” Jackson, who led the flank assault, or the ineptness of the Union commanders, who were warned of a possible surprise attack but took no precautions against it, the strategy worked. Jackson’s unit obliterated the Union forces it surprised and the Confederates won the battle.
Not that it was precisely the victory they had envisioned. Jackson was killed by his own troops, who mistook him for the enemy. And Lee walked away convinced that his army was unbeatable and could accomplish whatever he asked of it. It was that mindset that helped lead to his overconfidence at Gettysburg, including the disastrous Pickett’s Charge.
Kate shook her head. It was handy to have Quinn’s near encyclopedic knowledge of the battles in this area — he’d visited each a number of times — but it was also distracting. In the end, what mattered wasn’t who had won, but what had been lost.
On this field, like the others she had visited over the past week, Kate felt the same pulsing wound beneath the earth, the lives lost or shattered.
It was nearly time. She gathered her mental focus and summoned Hatcher to her side once more. The spirit instantly responded.
“Hatcher, reporting for duty, Ma’am,” he said.
The woman in white smiled at him.
“We’ll try the same thing as before, Private,” she said. “I want you to organize them appropriately and spread them out. When I give the word, we’ll call the rest.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he responded crisply.
Kate closed her eyes and focused her energy outward. But this time, she didn’t call the spirits of the dead soldiers. Her call was aimed elsewhere. When she tried this at Gettysburg, she had been worried it wouldn’t work, that she wasn’t strong enough to narrow her reach. Even now, she was nervous. But by using the energy of the spirits already on her side, she had found the strength to do this before. She would have to do so again.
“Come to me,” she called. She filled her head with images, but not of war. Instead, they were images of sons marching off, of sweethearts who never came home again, of farms and towns sunk into poverty.
The response wasn’t immediate, the way it was with the soldiers. Kate supposed that was because the soldiers were still on this field. But for the women and children they left behind, her summons had to go much farther.
Still, it was no more than a few minutes before they came. Old women in mourning dress, young women looking exhausted and scared. Their sons, husbands and boyfriends had died here, and these women’s lives had been wrenched apart as a result. Though they numbered far fewer than the soldiers, there were enough to make Kate weep.
There was one other critical difference. Unlike the soldiers she had summoned, these women had no wish to re-fight old battles. All they wanted was for their suffering to end.
“You don’t have to be trapped here anymore,” Kate told them. “I will call your loved ones. You must help them understand that the war is over. The need to stay here has passed. It’s time we marched for a new purpose, a united cause.”
Kate saw many of them nodding. How many years had they been trapped here? How long have they waited?
She saw Clinton Hatcher moving among them, telling them softly to go to this or that part of the battlefield. He was her secret weapon. Hatcher towered over his peers and was a Virginia gentleman to his core. He quietly dispatched the women to where they were needed.
Kate nodded at him. It was time.
Closing her eyes, the banshee once again put out the call. She was careful not to mentally project the sights or sounds of the battle, instead focusing on its aftermath.
“You don’t have to be trapped here anymore,” she repeated. “Let go of your past. Come to me and be free.”
They responded within seconds, even more than she anticipated. There were hundreds and then thousands. She watched as some embraced the women near them. As it had before, her tactic worked. With the women there and the cost of the war so apparent, the men didn’t take up arms again. Instead, some nodded across the lines of blue and gray, a final understanding reached between them.
But Kate was also conscious of something new. It wasn’t just soldiers coming, or even those from the Civil War era. She saw men in 1930s business suits, women in 1960s clothing. Her call was becoming more powerful and attracting even more spirits. What mattered wasn’t when they died, but that they had remained.
Kate started to feel a sense of success. Soon she wouldn’t need to travel to battlefields anymore, the spirits would come to her. After that, they would march. Everything was coming together. Kate wondered if anything could stop her army.
In that moment, when Kate could already see the victory in her head, the attack came.
*****
A sudden bolt of green energy burst into the midst of her new makeshift army. Kate watched as soldiers and female ghosts were blasted into the air.
“What the hell?” she said in surprise.
Another explosion of green light fell on the other side of the battlefield, scattering more spirits. Then another and another.
“Artillery!” some of the men shouted.
She watched as the men began to form battle lines, pushing the women and other civilians behind them. However, this time they weren’t lining up to fight each other, but an unknown enemy.
Kate, in the form of the banshee, stared across the sky where the shots had come from, but couldn’t see anything. All she saw was the moonlit sky.
Another explosion landed nearby. It didn’t just harm spirits, but left a small crater in the dirt. A shot landed right near her feet, but Kate stood her ground.
“Ready weapons!” she shouted. Soldiers started loading their guns.
Hatcher was at her side as another green blast hit nearby. She heard men screaming.
“What are your orders?”
“For right now, I want the troops in defensive positions,” she said. “Get the civilians as safe as they can be and wait until we see what the hell is attacking us.”
“Ma’am,” Hatcher nodded and disappeared.
The night was well-lit by the moon, but Kate couldn’t see what was assaulting them. More blasts hit nearby but she ignored them, focusing only on where they were coming from.
Finally, she spotted a flash of gold at the far end of the battlefield. Before it could move, she pointed to that area and screamed, “Fire!”
A thousand shots split the night air.
“Reload!” Hatcher shouted.
Kate couldn’t see anything, but the night was suddenly quiet. She waited for the next attack, but it didn’t come.
“Hold position,” Hatcher said.
In life, Clinton Hatcher had been a flag bearer, but in death he was turning into an excellent lieutenant.
Kate was just starting to become convinced that they must have hit their assailant when the next green blast came. Unlike the others, these were aimed directly at her. She dodge
d the first and rolled away from the second as it exploded nearby. When the third one came, though, it was too quick. Despite being an incorporeal banshee, the shot didn’t pass right through her. Instead, it hit her full-on, sending her flying into the air.
Kate flew back and bumped into a line of soldiers. For a moment, she lay on the ground, stunned. Whatever was attacking her was incredibly powerful, much stronger than Aillen. She pulled herself up with the aid of a nearby soldier, only to encounter another attack.
She dodged it and rolled out of the way. Several blasts hit nearby, but didn’t catch her. She was at least able to see where the shots came from. She also noticed a pattern. The attacks always came in threes before a break.
Kate pointed to where she had last seen a blast originate.
“Fire!” she screamed.
Smoke filled the air as thousands of shots rang out, and then silence.
Kate didn’t let herself believe for a moment that the attacks had stopped for good, but she watched and waited.
After a minute, another three blasts came at her, one after the other. Like before, she evaded the first two, but the third one caught her. Kate was knocked backward again, but was up almost as soon as she landed.
She pointed and shouted “fire” again.
Another round of gunshots rang out, but Kate decided to try another tactic. She opened her mouth and screamed.
She had used the banshee’s scream only once before in a desperate move to stop Sawyer from killing Quinn. It was powerful, but also took enormous energy. It had another drawback as well. When she screamed, she couldn’t do anything else, including move. Additionally, for it to be lethal, she had to be close to her opponent. The nearer she was, the more effective the scream would be.
However, in this case, she used it like a sonic blast. It wasn’t designed to hurt, but merely disrupt. It didn’t affect the troops around her, but launched right to the area where she thought her attacker was hiding. She aimed up, knowing that whatever was on the offensive must somehow be flying.
The ploy worked. As soon as she screamed, she saw something fall from the sky and heard a smacking sound. It landed in a gold blur.
Kate ran toward it, but her attacker was on its feet before she could get halfway there.
She watched in surprise as a woman stood up and calmly dusted herself off. Kate could feel the eyes of her army on them.
The woman was dressed in gold-colored robes, with gold bands on her wrists. She carried a shield and a spear that looked like they came from ancient Greece.
She laughed and the sound was like tinkling bells.
“Excellent,” she said. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to be much of a challenge.”
Kate looked her up and down, noticing a small gold crown on her head.
“Are you supposed to be Wonder Woman or something?” Kate asked.
A brief look of confusion passed over the woman’s face.
“I have no idea who that is,” she said. “As for who I am, that should be obvious. I’m the one who’s going to destroy you.”
Kate sniffed, and even heard a smattering of laughter from the troops around her.
“I’ve heard that before,” she replied.
“Not from me,” the woman said.
“We haven’t been properly introduced,” Kate said. “I’m Kate Tassel. And you are?”
“Carman,” the woman replied with haughty confidence. If she was nervous about being outnumbered roughly ten thousand to one, it didn’t show.
“And you attacked me because…?” Kate asked when no further information was forthcoming.
The woman laughed again.
“Lord Sanheim asked me to,” she replied. “But I think you probably knew that already. You don’t look completely stupid.”
Kate’s eyes narrowed, but she let the insult pass.
Instead, she calmly said the word that had been on her lips since Carman started talking.
“Fire,” she said.
A slew of gunshots rang out, but Kate saw a shimmer in the air around Carman. The bullets connected, but seemed to be absorbed into some sort of energy field she had around her.
“Well, that was rude,” Carman said in a tone of disapproval. “I thought we were talking.”
“Really? You said you were going to destroy me,” Kate said. “As far as conversations go, I’ve had better.”
Carman arched an eyebrow at her.
“I don’t like you,” she said. “You don’t know your superior when you see it. When I said my name, you should have trembled in terror.”
“Well, somebody sure is impressed with herself,” Kate said.
“Oh, I have nothing to fear from you, young one,” she said. “You might be a banshee, but you barely understand your powers. What do you think I’ve been doing here? I’ve been testing you. Your army’s numbers are impressive, but they’re slow, as are you. You think you’re a threat? You’re nothing.”
“Then why don’t you come over here and kill me?” Kate asked flatly. “Since you’re such a badass and everything. Or maybe you want to stand there and talk about all the cool things you can do first?”
“We’ll get to that,” Carman replied. “But first I’d like to make a little wager. My people are fond of games and I’ve not been in the mortal world for a long time. My Lord Sanheim gave me two orders. One was to kill you. Would you like to guess what the other was?”
“Twenty questions? That’s your game? You have been out of the mortal world for a while. We have much better games now.”
Carman gave Kate a mirthless smile.
“He asked me to kill someone else, a friend of yours I believe. Kieran Collins?”
“He’s no friend of mine,” Kate responded.
“Then this bet won’t be as interesting as I hoped,” Carman replied. “It’s simple — I know where he is. I’ve been watching you for days. What do you want to bet that by the time you get back to him, I’ll have cut him into pieces?”
Kate froze. She had no love for Kieran, but she needed him if her plan was going to work — and apparently Carman knew that.
“Not so smug now, are you?” Carman asked. “So maybe this will be fun after all. It’s been lovely chatting with you, Kate. I’m sure I’ll see you back home.”
Before Kate could take a step, Carman leapt into the air and shot off into the sky. All Kate saw was a flash of golden light.
Kate looked quickly at Hatcher.
“Round up the troops and bring them to the gathering place,” Kate said. “I have a witch to catch.”
Kate changed from the banshee into the Headless Horseman and began galloping across the Virginia landscape.
Chapter 24
The two shadowmen closed in around Quinn. His eyes darted around the cave looking for anything that could help him. Aside from a few small rocks, there was nothing.
The first shadowman leapt in Quinn’s direction. Quinn dodged the first blow, but the second caught him in the chest. He flew back several feet into the cave wall and hit his head against the rock.
Quinn slumped to the ground and lay there looking up at the two creatures towering over him. They looked like a black mist, but Quinn felt like he’d been hit with a brick. Their massive bulk stood at least seven feet tall, with huge arms and legs. They were completely black except for their eyes, which glowed a deep red.
“Such a shame, brother,” the second shadowman said. “I expected him to be a challenge.”
“Life is full of disappointments, Dub,” the first one said.
When they spoke, their mouths stretched unnaturally wide, showing a gaping black hole.
Quinn noticed they weren’t the only two things moving in the cavern. Above them on the ceiling, the spider-creature was slowly crawling toward his position. Quinn didn’t know what he meant to do until he noticed one of its appendages gesturing to him. He was pointing toward the tunnel on the right.
In a flash, Quinn understood its plan; he just di
dn’t know if he could pull off his part of it. The two shadowmen slowly walked forward, but Quinn didn’t try to get up. Instead he tried to look harmless and dazed, which was dangerously close to the truth.
“No fight at all, Dother,” Dub said. “How boring.”
When the two were almost on top of him, Dub reached down to grab Quinn, but Quinn surprised him by evading his misty black hand and rolling forward between the two figures. He stood up quickly and ran toward the tunnel on the right.
“Still bored, Dub?” he heard Dother ask.
Quinn didn’t wait to hear more, but sprinted through a maze of tunnels. He paid little attention to what direction he was heading, knowing full well it would be a problem when he wanted to get out again. But he also knew if he paused for a moment, Dub and Dother would be on him. He could hear them racing through the cave, right on his heels.
Quinn felt like he had been running most of the time since his death and rebirth in this strange world. He tried not to think about all the monsters that had been chasing him lately.
He stumbled into another cavern, this one much larger than the last. It too had torches along its walls. But when Quinn ran to the center and looked around the room, he saw no exit. He was trapped.
He turned just as the two shadowmen entered. They didn’t run in so much as leap out from the shadows on the wall. Quinn realized they hadn’t been running after him at all, but traveling through the dark places along the wall. They weren’t just made of shadow — they moved in it.
Dother looked above Quinn.
“It found its lair, Dub,” it said. “We thought this place lost.”
Quinn couldn’t help but follow the thing’s gaze. What he saw took his breath away. There was no true ceiling to the cavern. Instead, there was a gigantic spider web. The web glittered in the torch-light, showing off intricate and complicated patterns that seemed to stretch upwards forever. Until that moment, Quinn had no idea how deep into the mountain he must have run.
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