The Battle Cry (The Guardians of Tara Book 2)

by S. M. Schmitz

  “You’ll keep us masked, right?” Cameron finally asked Badb. As soon as he and Selena began to heal, they’d need to concentrate on saving lives, not on ensuring the staff and soldiers stationed at the doors couldn’t see them.

  Badb nodded but couldn’t look away from the sea of death in front of them. A young man by her feet rolled onto his side and vomited, and she instinctively stepped back but wouldn’t leave Selena’s side.

  “I’m ready, Selena,” Cameron told her. “Tell me what to do.”

  “I guess we start here,” Selena said. She knelt beside the man at Badb’s feet then nodded toward the man next to him. Cameron carefully lowered himself to the floor and put a hesitant hand on the man’s arm. He felt Selena’s healing power surge through him and watched the dark purple flushing of the man’s skin fade.

  He risked looking away from the patient to glance up at Badb so he could ask her, “What’s happening to these people? I’ve never heard of this. I thought smallpox caused bumps all over the body.”

  “Bleeding,” Badb answered. She surveyed the emergency room again and took a deep breath. “Same virus, I think. Before smallpox was eradicated, we used to see this occasionally during outbreaks. Most people would get the normal pox, but a few would start bleeding internally. To be honest, I don’t know anyone who ever survived this kind of hemorrhaging.”

  Cameron looked at the woman lying next to the man Selena had just healed and asked, “Ever know any gods who contracted smallpox?”

  “No,” she answered. “Gods don’t usually contract the same diseases as men. I’d never seen them get the plague either until Loviatar made most of her pantheon sick.”

  “So Loviatar is controlling how this disease manifests, too?” Selena asked. She stood up and moved on to the next person. Cameron returned his attention to the man beneath his fingers and noticed his eyes were open, and he was looking around the ER, bewildered and dazed but healed. He followed Selena and moved on to the next patient, too.

  “She must be,” Badb finally said. “I wish I could help you. We’ll never be able to save everyone.”

  “No,” Selena agreed. “We won’t.”

  The doors to the emergency room swung open and paramedics, also in Tyvek suits and respirators, pushed another gurney into the room. They left it by the far wall then hurried back outside.

  “She’s still in the city,” Cameron guessed. “If this many people are still getting sick this quickly, she must still be here.”

  “Yeah,” Badb sighed. “The others are looking for her though. Just concentrate on healing as many as possible until they can stop her.”

  Cameron nodded and returned his attention to the woman beneath his fingers even though healing was probably the only thing he didn’t have to concentrate on since Selena was doing the work for him. He had friends in this city, former co-workers, a lifetime of memories from touring the aquarium and zoo with his parents and brother as a child to attending his first Saints’ game when he was in college. He examined the face of every patient he touched and each person Selena healed to see if he recognized them. He knew then that his experiences here would forever transform the way he viewed evil in either world and what evil really meant. He’d long believed Fúamnach’s jealousy had driven her toward evil, but this attempt at mass murder had opened his eyes to the complete depravity of some people’s souls.

  He and Selena had made it through half of the people in the ER before the hospital personnel seemed to realize something strange was going on with their patients: many of them were not only getting better, they were miraculously cured. At first, most of the healed patients had been too dazed and disoriented to move much, let alone try to leave. But as they oriented themselves to their surroundings and to the suffering around them, they seemed to understand where they were and why. In their understandable fear and panic, those patients who were now well began to flee the hospital, and the National Guard troops stationed outside were forcing them back into the ER.

  “This is going to get ugly,” Cameron muttered. “Why won’t they let these poor people go home?”

  “The soldiers outside are only following orders to keep everyone inside the hospital so they can’t infect anyone else,” Selena said. “And the doctors can’t explain why some people are suddenly well.”

  Badb gestured toward the swelling crowd near the doors and added, “If we don’t do something, we’re going to have a riot soon.”

  “What can we do?” Selena demanded. “If we let them see us, they’ll try to kick us out or arrest us, and we’ll be forced to leave New Orleans!”

  Badb folded her arms over her chest and glared at the soldiers near the door. “I’d like to see them make me leave.”

  “Badb,” Selena groaned, “not now! We have to pick our battles.”

  “I think she’s right,” Cameron said.

  “Did you just say I’m right?” Badb interrupted.

  “Don’t make me change my mind,” Cameron warned. “But yeah, everyone’s terrified, including those soldiers, and if they open fire on this crowd, Selena has healed all these people for nothing. We have to tell them the truth about what’s going on before this situation gets violent.”

  Selena opened her mouth to protest, but Badb cut her off. “I dropped the mask. Remember: this was your idea, Selena. It’s time to be the next Guardians of Tara.”

  “Oh God,” Selena whispered. “They’ve spotted us already.”

  “Which god?” Cameron whispered back as the doctor who’d spotted them tapped a soldier on his arm and pointed toward the group of gods standing in the middle of the emergency room.

  “Not sure,” Selena answered. “Which god can convince them to leave us alone and let us finish healing these people?”

  “Um…” Cameron responded. “You?”

  Several soldiers approached them as a man lying beside Selena moaned and reached for her leg. Cameron’s heart raced because he knew Selena would kneel by this man and heal him just as he knew those National Guardsmen advancing toward them would demand she not move.

  Selena slowly lowered herself to the floor and the guards immediately stopped and yelled at her to remain still. Cameron’s Spear appeared in his hand, its blue flames illuminating the space around them. He heard a scattering of surprised gasps, but the soldiers raised their rifles and yelled at him to drop his weapon.

  He didn’t mean to snicker, but it came out anyway.

  “I have a better idea,” he told the soldiers. “You drop your weapons and let my girlfriend finish healing these people before they die.”

  “Last chance,” one of the soldiers called back. “Drop your weapon and put your hands behind your head.”

  Cameron blinked at him then retorted, “Dude, does this look like a normal spear to you? And look at the patient she’s healing. What the hell do you think we are?”

  “Cameron,” Badb hissed, “I don’t think you’re helping.”

  “Then you try,” he said. “They’re being ridiculously stubborn.”

  “What the hell am I doing in a hospital?” Thor asked.

  “What the hell are you doing in this hospital?” Cameron asked back.

  “Drop your weapons now!” the soldier yelled.

  Cameron nodded toward the soldier. “I think that’s why you’re here, although Badb should really warn a god before she summons other gods. Totally scared the shit out of me.”

  Thor turned toward the soldiers and shook his head. “I’m not dropping Mjölnir. I never drop my weapon. What kind of god drops his weapon?”

  “Don’t think they care,” Cameron responded helpfully.

  “Don’t think my plan worked,” Badb responded just as helpfully.

  “Then I’m going back to meet Tyr to see if we can locate Loki and Loviatar. Given how many…”

  “Open fire!” the soldier interrupted.

  Cameron sighed and transported all of the gods behind the group of soldiers who fired at an empty wall. Fragments of the partition wa
ll rained down on the screaming patients below. He waited until they stopped firing before trying one last time.

  “Guys, we’re here to help all of you,” he said.

  The soldiers spun around and raised their rifles again, but Badb had grown tired of trying to negotiate with terrified humans who were past the point of reason. Cameron couldn’t even finish pleading on behalf of his girlfriend who was the only one in New Orleans that could save this city. Badb took them all out of the hospital before the soldiers could accidentally kill some of the patients the Guardians had been trying to save.

  Cameron sent his Spear back to his room in Murias and tipped his face toward the black, starless sky above him.

  “Are we still in New Orleans?” he asked Badb.

  “Yeah,” she answered. “Not exactly sure where though. I’m sorry, Selena, but I’ve seen what fear does to men. And that couldn’t have ended well for anyone.”

  Selena just nodded and laced her arm through Cameron’s, resting her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head then asked Thor, “Y’all making any progress on finding the gods who are going to be responsible for killing half this city?”

  Selena whimpered and he put his other arm around her. Nothing pissed him off more than knowing something was hurting Selena, but he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

  Thor ran his fingers through his rusty red hair and sighed. “Last I heard, the Valkyries chased Loki out of Algiers Point. Of course that bastard would choose a residential area to hide in because he knows I don’t want to hurt innocent people and with the curfew, everyone’s stuck in their homes.”

  “What about Loviatar?” Badb asked. “Wasn’t she with him?”

  “Gunnr didn’t mention her,” Thor said. “They’re probably hiding in different areas of the city.”

  “Can he still prevent us from summoning her then?” Selena asked. “Maybe if we get our hands on her, we can get her to undo all the disease she’s unleashed on this city.”

  Thor scratched at his chin as he thought about it then lifted a shoulder. “I can’t summon her yet, but you two should try. If it still doesn’t work, we might need to drive them farther apart.”

  “Or,” Badb countered, “we might need to convince Loki he needs to dump her altogether in order to save himself. I’m willing to bet this arrangement was entirely out of self-interest for both of them. He won’t have any allegiance to her.”

  Thor snorted and his voice adopted a harder edge as he told the Irish war goddess, “Loki has no allegiance to anyone. He betrayed his entire family over personal jealousy.”

  “Uh, speaking of,” Selena added, “shouldn’t we be worried about Sigyn? She spent the past two thousand years ensuring he was stuck in that cave, and now, she’s disappeared.”

  “Selena, we can only handle so many problems at once,” Badb replied. “Once we capture Loki, the Norse can take him and do whatever they want to him. Kill him, rebind him, feed him to Jörmungandr. We can’t rescue everyone.”

  “First of all,” Thor said, “I doubt Jörmungandr would eat Loki considering it’s his father, and secondly…”

  “Dude,” Cameron interrupted, “you guys have some seriously messed up relationships. What is wrong with you Norse?”

  “How long have you been waiting to ask somebody else what’s wrong with them?” Selena asked.

  “Over three months,” Cameron answered seriously.

  Thor rubbed his eyes and tried again. “And secondly, of course we’re going to rescue Sigyn. She never deserved the lot Fate handed her by sticking her with a god like Loki, and she didn’t just guard his cave out of vengeance for Baldr’s death. She offered to do it and sacrificed any life she could have led outside of that cave to ensure he remained bound there. Getting to torment him all those years was just a perk.”

  A blur of white and yellow surprised the gods standing in a secluded park as London’s small frame came to a sudden stop beside them. She took a few deep breaths then gestured toward an empty street that ran alongside the park. “Turns out, the government doesn’t think we gods should be in New Orleans.”

  “Oh God,” Cameron groaned. “What did you do?”

  “I’m assuming you mean her?” Selena asked.

  Cameron nodded. “And whomever else she’s with.”

  “Hey,” London snapped, “don’t blame me! It’s you war gods that couldn’t keep your mouths shut and now everyone’s threatening to smite the whole damn National Guard!”

  “Technically,” Cameron corrected and the other gods groaned, “I’m not a war god. I’m a sun god. I just happened to have inherited the traits of Cú Chulainn as well as Lugh.”

  “Why do you think I care right now?” London asked.

  Cameron shrugged. “I just like to ensure we’re keeping our facts straight.”

  “Cameron, we’re minutes away from a war breaking out in a major U.S. city between a division of the National Guard and a handful of powerful gods!” London yelled.

  “Yeah, they’re totally going to get smited,” Cameron said.

  “Smote,” Selena corrected.

  “What god do I need to harass to get smited added to the English dictionary?” he asked.

  “Um… Ogma?” Selena guessed.

  “Ogma,” Cameron repeated. “We knew him, didn’t we?”

  Selena nodded while the other gods sighed impatiently. “He was one of the gods who came to you the night you prayed for help after Fúamnach murdered me the first time.”

  “Why does it seem like most of the conversations I have now are completely and utterly bizarre?”

  “Probably because you’re talking,” London mumbled.

  Selena narrowed her eyes at the young goddess, but Cameron grabbed her hand and silently reminded her he was egging them on. He felt her anger slowly recede and wished he had time to ask Badb how long this phase would last or if she’d have uncontrollable mood swings throughout her pregnancy. He was beginning to understand her constant fear for him as he’d struggled to control his own temper after becoming a god.

  “Tyr is a war god though,” Thor intervened. “If he’s provoked, he’ll react. It’s in his nature. We should hurry.”

  Cameron was about to agree when he found himself on a familiar street near the French Quarter. The windows of all of the businesses that lined both sides of the street remained dark and the doors closed. He’d never seen so much emptiness in one of his favorite cities in the world, and the catastrophe falling on the Crescent City now not only made him want to protect this place but seek revenge against those who were attempting to destroy it.

  Tyr stepped out from the shadows and pointed his sword toward a tank across the street. “These bastards think they can tell us to leave? What will they do against Loki? He’ll crush them like ants beneath his feet.”

  “That’s… a big tank,” Cameron responded. “If Loki can crush that beneath his foot, I don’t want to fight him either.”

  “Cameron,” Thor groaned, “don’t be so literal. Not now.”

  A tall, husky man in khaki fatigues kept his arms folded over his chest, staring at the newcomers like they were the ants that needed to be crushed beneath his boots. “I’m Colonel Krapohl, and this city,” he began, but Cameron couldn’t not say something.

  “Wait a second,” he interrupted. “Did you just say your name is Crap Pole?”

  The colonel blinked at him then continued. “And this city is under quarantine. I don’t know what you think you are, and I don’t care. Your presence here is illegal. New Orleans is under martial law until the sequestration ends, which means I’m placing all of you under arrest.”

  This time, Cameron actually laughed.

  Selena elbowed him in the ribs, and he yelped and grabbed his side.

  “It’s not my fault!” Cameron protested. “Colonel Crap Pole over there thinks he can arrest us!”

  “Place me under arrest?” Tyr bellowed. His good hand flexed around the handle of his sword. “Try it, Son of Ada
m.”

  “Son of Adam?” Cameron repeated. “Dude, you know that’s just a myth, right?”

  “Dude,” London retorted, “you know you’re talking to a bunch of living myths, right?”

  “Conceded,” Cameron agreed.

  The colonel apparently had as much patience for the gods’ constant bantering as their supernatural enemies because he finally uncrossed his arms and shouted to his men, “Take ‘em in! And if they resist, put ‘em down!”

  “Badb,” Cameron yelled, “take her back to Murias!”

  “No!” Selena protested. He could sense her frustration that he was trying to help Badb force her back to Murias, but he didn’t know what else to do.

  New Orleans was about to turn into a war zone.

  He glanced at the colonel one last time and called out to him, “I don’t want to do this! Don’t make me kill your men!”

  Someone shouted the order to open fire, and he raised his Spear but something within him begged him to look for a way out of killing the men and women he’d vowed to help protect. Tyr, Athena, Ares, and Nemain were already advancing on the Guardsmen as they fired, the bullets ricocheting off of some invisible shield.

  He glanced at Badb and whispered, “How are they doing that?”

  “They’re gods, Cameron. Do you really think man can kill a god?”

  “Yeah,” Cameron answered. “I do, actually. By losing faith in us. By turning on us and believing we’re their enemies.”

  Badb watched the retreating group of Guardsmen and quietly agreed. “Conceded.”

  Tyr raised his sword and Cameron’s stomach dropped.

  “Wait!” he yelled.

  Tyr’s arm paused in the air, but he kept his eyes fixed on the soldier he was prepared to decapitate. Ares’s spear pointed toward the heart of another soldier who had dropped his rifle and had begun slowly backing away from the Greek god whose anger caused his skin to glow, the golden brown curls around his head illuminated like a halo. If he hadn’t been gripping a spear, prepared to run it through a man’s chest, Cameron thought this might be where the image of angels had come from.