by John Ringo
“Don’t try it,” the man said. “You’re not that good. I know.”
“You’re… Conner,” Herzer said, quietly. Rachel’s face was frightened but set, her hands clasped to her breast.
“Yes, and that means you know I won’t hesitate to kill her,” Conner replied. “Take one step closer and she dies right in front of your eyes.”
“Take one step back and I’ll take the chance,” Herzer said. “I won’t have her disappear.”
“We’re both going to disappear,” Conner laughed. “I can port out at any time.”
“If you could teleport, you would have already,” Herzer replied, pointedly not watching Rachel. “Leave her and you can go free.”
“No chance,” Conner said, stepping back and dragging at Rachel.
“Conner,” Herzer said, conversationally. “There’s something you really need to know.”
“What?” Conner said, suspiciously.
“I’m not the one you should be afraid of,” Herzer said, gesturing with the sword over Conner’s shoulder.
“Don’t give me that,” Conner said, taking a step back. “That’s the oldest trick in the…”
* * *
Rachel felt herself thrown forward as sixty kilos of enraged housecat landed on the agent’s back. Conner let out a scream and stabbed backwards with his knife but Rachel was nearly as fast. The scalpel came out and stabbed downward with the precision of a wasp killing a spider. It withdrew from his leg in a fountain of arterial blood.
“That was your femoral artery,” she said in a light tone. “And femoral nerve, which is why you’re experiencing so much pain at the moment.” She stepped forward and looked at the staggering agent for a moment, and then drove the scalpel into his stomach and upward.
“That will have gotten your liver along with various blood vessels,” she added, conversationally, as the agent finally fell to his knees and then face, the cat continuing to rake his back with hind-claws. Azure finally shifted the grip of his jaws and closed them on the agent’s neck with a snap of something breaking.
“That would have been your trachea,” Rachel added calmly. “So in my professional medical opinion, you’re going to die of lack of respiration before you bleed to death.”
* * *
When the prey was finally still Azure lifted his muzzle from the agent’s neck and mewed at his human.
“Good kitty,” Rachel said, rubbing him on the bottom of his bloody jowls. “Good kitty…”
* * *
“This is a bit hot,” General Lepheimer said, looking down at the mass of orcs that were swarming First Legion’s hastily formed parapet.
“Yes, it is,” Edmund said, pulling out his watch and then looking up at the sun. “Wouldn’t you say it’s just before noon?”
“About that,” the First Legion commander replied. “I mean, there’s quite a lot of them.”
“Yes, there are,” Edmund replied. The main mass of the orcs from the portal had hit the parapet like a wave and the rest had joined in since trying to attack their own former defenses didn’t seem to be working. If there was any control over the battle on the New Destiny side it was not apparent.
“The archers are getting tired,” Lepheimer pointed out. “And we’re rather severely outnumbered.”
“That we are,” Edmund agreed.
“And they’re pressing around to the right flank,” General Lepheimer continued, pointing towards the end of the ridge where orcs could be seen spreading out and heading up the grass covered hill.
“Yep,” Edmund said.
“General, why are you so… calm about that?”
“Hold it,” Edmund said, glancing to the east then taking off his helmet. He lay down on the parapet and pressed his ear against the wood then smiled. “Oh, well,” he said, standing back up and brushing off his armor, “close enough for government work.”
“What?” Lepheimer asked as he handed back the helmet.
“You hear it?” Edmund said, smiling.
“No?” the general said, clearly out of his depth. Then over the sound of the battle he did here it. Or, rather, feel it. A rumbling in the ground. “What the hell is that?”
“That,” Edmund said, turning and pointing to the right flank.
Over the hill a tide of horsemen appeared, long lances shining in the sun. They didn’t even stop their canter, simply dressed ranks on the move, locked in knee to knee and sped into a gallop as the long lances lowered to the attack and a great cry rose from six thousand throats.
“KENTIA!”
“Make signal to both legions,” Edmund said, buckling his helmet. “Advance to attack.”
Epilogue
“How long has this been going on?” Edmund asked, as Bast and the big… thing separated.
“Couple of hours,” Herzer said.
“You know there’s a battle going on, right?” Edmund asked.
“Couldn’t be that important if you’re here,” Herzer pointed out. “Hey, Kane, glad you could join in the fun.”
“Fun,” Kane said. “I just rode damned near two thousand klicks. I’m not sure I can dismount.”
“Well, it’s the journey that counts, right?” Herzer said.
“Gunny Rutherford bought it,” Edmund said as Bast flashed in and out, stinging the thing and opening up another rent in its tattered armor.
“I’m sorry,” Herzer said, quietly.
“Holding the line while the parapet was being finished.”
“It’s how he would have wanted to go,” Herzer said with a shrug. The elf-thing managed to tag Bast, hard and she backed away, favoring her arm.
“Bullshit,” Edmund growled. “He wanted to die from a stroke while lying in a hammock being fellated by a sixteen-year-old redhead named Tracy.”
Herzer thought about that for a long time and then looked at Edmund for the first time since he’d arrived.
“Why Tracy?” he asked.
“I have no idea,” Edmund replied. “He was pretty drunk when he told me that. But it’s the sort of thing that sticks in your mind. And I never worked up the balls to ask him. I wish now that I had.”
The two combatants separated and Herzer held out his hand. One of the watching Blood Lords slapped a water bottle in it and he tossed it to the elf-thing. Edmund had noticed the pile of them and wondered about it.
“Very… something,” Edmund said. “Noble, I guess. Stupid, maybe.”
“Bast insisted,” Herzer replied. Bast had accepted a bottle from Rachel and drained it, tossing it aside and checking over her sword. The elf-thing’s was heavily notched but hers was unblemished.
“So, how long is this going to go on?” Megan said, walking up and slipping her hand under Herzer’s arm.
“Bast said something about stopping at nightfall,” Herzer replied. “Get some rest and food and start again in the morning.”
“So what’s it to be?” Megan asked, aghast. “Two immortals locked in an epic battle until the end of time?”
“Unless one of them gives up,” Herzer said, shrugging.
“Nope, not on,” Edmund said. “That thing got a name?”
“Roc,” Herzer replied.
“Roc,” Edmund said, holding up a hand as he walked past it over to Bast. “Hang on a bit, we’ve got to pow-wow. Hey, Bast,” Edmund continued. “Nice suit.”
“Edmund,” Bast said, nodding at him and rubbing her left arm. “The battle went well?”
“The usual problems,” Edmund said, shrugging. “Bast, we’ve got other things to do.”
“I don’t,” Bast said.
“No, but we can’t simply set aside part of the camp as an arena,” Edmund replied. “Are you going to win this, soon?”
“If I were a true elf, yes,” Bast said, frowning. “He has not the gaslan. Of all the things they have done to him, separating him from the gaslan is probably the worst. To create a fighting machine and take away its greatest strength… madness!”
“That would be Celine,” Edmu
nd sighed. “Gaslan?”
“Elf thing,” Bast said, shrugging. “Hard to translate. To know of the way of battle. To know the myriad ways that battle may go and to choose among them for the one most right. You have it, a little. So does Herzer, I sensed it in him from the beginning. All elves have it, much. True elf would have won by now. But I have not the mass. I can touch him, but not penetrate. He can, sometimes, touch me. But rarely and then I have the armor.”
“You’ve certainly carved him,” Edmund said, looking at the rents in the armor and the blood that covered the thing.
“To laugh,” Bast said, merrily. “Fast heal do elves. Fast heal do… those,” she added, pointing at Roc. “No, must penetrate and cannot, until one of us tires much. May be him, may be me. Not today. Tomorrow. Afternoon. Maybe day after.”
“Nah, ain’t gonna go that way,” Edmund said, shaking his head. “Sorry.” He turned to the monster. “Roc?”
The thing, which had been glaring at the Blood Lords, looked at him and nodded.
“In about ten minutes, I’m going to have about a hundred archers here,” Edmund said. “Now, the rest of these people are all noble about this stuff. I’m not. I don’t think you are, either. You’ll probably catch some arrows and deflect others, but in the end we’re going to fill you as full of arrows as an armory. Understand?”
“Yes,” the beast answered.
“You can surrender and we’ll find a nice little fortress for you to haunt, or you can die. Your choice.”
Roc fingered his sword for a moment and then pointed it to the ground. He stepped forward, provoking a rustle from the watching Blood Lords, and then took a knee, his head bowed.
“That one,” he said, pointing at Bast. “To that one will I give my life. She is worthy.”
Bast walked over to him, keeping carefully to the off side of the sword and slipped her saber under his chin.
“Look at me,” she said. “Adano.”
The beast looked up at her with hate-filled eyes.
“Who binds you?” she asked.
“I am bound to the name of my lady, Celine,” the beast answered, angrily.
“You were bound to another name, once,” she said, offering her hand and bringing the beast to his feet. She barely came to his waist. “I swear that you can be bound to Her again,” she added, placing her left hand on his chest. “Aso mua, shato moas latan.”
And they vanished.
“What just happened?” Herzer said. “Did they port?”
“Mother?” Megan said. “Was that a teleport?”
“Dimension shift,” the voice answered.
“Elfheim is closed,” Edmund said. “Where did they go?”
“Mother?” Megan asked. “Where did they go?”
“I am not programmed to track dimension shifts,” the voice replied. “But shato moas latan translates to ‘that which is lost.’ In a very ancient vernacular, humans would call it… Shangri-la…”
Appendix
New Destiny Key-holders:
Paul Bowman, Leader of New Destiny, Minister for Ropasa (Deceased)
1. Chansa Mulengela, Minister for Frika, Marshal of the Great Army
2. Celine Reinshafen, Minister for Ephresia, Chief of Research and Development
3. Lupe Ugatu (Vice Minjie Jiaqi), Governor of Hindi (in dispute)
4. Reyes Cho, Minister for Soam (in dispute)
5. Jassinte Arizzi, Minister for Chin (in dispute)
6. Demon, lone actor
Freedom Coalition Key-holders:
1. Sheida Ghorbani, Her Majesty of the United Free States, Chairman of the Freedom Coalition
2. Ungphapkorn, Lord of Soam
3. Ishtar, Counselor of Taurania and the Stanis States
4. Aikawa Gouvois, Emperor of Chin
5. Elnora Sill
6. Megan Samantha Travante
Neutral:
The Finn
Notable Harem Girls:
Christel Meazell: Senior female in the seraglio, pre-Fall paramour of Paul Bowman
Jean Meazell-Bowman: Christel and Paul’s son
Shanea Burgey
Meredith “Amber” Tillou: pre-Fall paramour of Paul Bowman
Ashly Wenman
Karie Szymonic
Mirta Krupansky
Velva Focke
Vita Kolemainen
FB2 document info
Document ID: e52d34f4-d70c-4c66-acf7-6417771573e2
Document version: 1
Document creation date: 27.09.2010
Created using: Fiction Book Designer, FictionBook Editor 2.4 software
Document authors :
Verdi1
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