by Jan Stryvant
"Good point," Roxy agreed.
Sean's phone chose that moment to start ringing.
"Damn, I hate that ring tone," Roxy grumbled as the phone started to play 'Basket Case'.
"That's why John programmed it into all our phones!" Sean laughed and, pulling his phone out, he answered.
"What's up, John?"
"Trouble. Get your birds in the air. Kweeda just called me and said something big is stirring up at the northern end of Black Rock!"
"Yeah, it's called 'Burning Man'!" Sean laughed and then looked over at Roxy, "Scramble the Black Hawk crews."
"Yeah, well, it ain't gonna be that for much longer."
'Damn! He's right, something's opening up there!'
"We're on it. Call Chad for me, tell him to get his guys going."
Ending the call, Sean pressed the speed dial button for Claudia as he ran for the house, where he had his armor and weapons stored.
"Yes, Sean?"
"Game time! Get everyone armored up! Something's happening up north at Black Rock."
"Yeah, 'Burning Man'," Claudia said with a sigh, then yelled at someone to call the alert crews. "Guess they're going to get a real show this year, assuming any of them are sober enough to even know what's going on."
Hanging up, Sean ran into the house, pulling his clothes off as he ran. Shifting into his hybrid form, he ran to the rack holding his armor and started to quickly put it on. One of the nice things about the armor was that it stuck to your body. It didn't need any ties or clasps. The body piece you just pulled down over your head, and after carefully tucking everything in, it closed like a clamshell. The legs were each one piece that you slipped on from the side, and then they sealed closed; arms were the same. The footwear was more like spats, because most lycans wanted to use their claws. The gauntlets were also open at the end, with bare palms.
The helmet mostly covered the top of the head, but not his ears, and came down the back of his neck. There was a visor that could be used to cover almost all of his face and head, but he was still getting used to it, so he didn't pull it down.
One of the drawbacks to the armor was that it didn't shift when he did. It was shaped to his hybrid form, so if he shifted to his human one, it got very uncomfortable, very fast. He could shift to his full lion form, and his armor and two swords would all go into the magical holding space of the lycan necklace.
But absolutely nothing else would. It wasn't a matter of capacity, so much as that the magic of the armor and the swords repelled everything else. Sean had taken to carrying anything else he needed in a pouch on a cord around his neck. That way he didn't lose his wallet or his cellphone.
Clipping both swords to his back, he looked to see that all of the girls were finishing up their armor as well. Jogging outside, Sean ran off to where he could hear the helicopters starting. He'd given two of the Hueys he'd had to Claudia, who was now running eight of them. Chad had his six Black Hawks, and Sean now had four, plus the remaining two Hueys.
They loaded a dozen troops into each of the helicopters as Sean put in his earplugs and turned on his radio.
"Sean here, once we're all loaded up, we're heading out to the north end of Black Rock."
"Trey here," the lead pilot of the group who flew Sean's helicopter said, identifying himself. "We going to Burning Man?"
"Looks like," Sean replied.
"I got us loaded with four air-to-ground missiles," Roger, the crew chief, told him.
"Where'd you get those?"
"Where do you think?" Roger laughed. "Sawyer gave us a bunch."
"Well, I don't know if they'll do anything against the demons."
"Djevels!" Cali corrected over the radio as she dropped down on the floor next to Sean.
"Whatever," Sean said and rolled his eyes. "Trey, you in contact with Chad's forces?"
"Yup, they're about ready to take off as well. Close the doors and let's get this show on the road!"
Roxy dropped to the floor on his other side as the doors closed, and Daelyn sat beside her. Jolene, Roberta, and Peg would be staying back at the ranch, getting everyone organized for whatever came next.
'How did you know something's opening, Dad?' Sean asked the First.
'Those of us from my original pride can all feel it when one of the larger gateways opens into the world. With John giving me a location, I was able to feel even this smaller one.'
'But you're not really alive.'
'I can feel it through you. I may not control your body unless you let me, but I can still use your senses when I want to.'
Sean gave a small nod to himself. 'Fine, give me directions when we start getting closer.'
'Of course.'
Sean looked out the window as they quickly lifted off. He could have sat up front, but the swords on his back had a tendency to get in the way, and he already had trouble fitting in that seat at over seven and a half feet tall.
"Welp, there's the Burners," one of the squad members said, and turning to the right, Sean could see the huge encampment spread out across the playa, a huge wooden structure in the center with a stick figure man on top, and then there were all of the different structures, or 'art installations', all around the place.
"Ever been there?" Sean asked, looking around.
"Oh, yeah, a bunch of us usually run out there at night. It's easy to sneak in there as a wolf; people just think you're somebody's dog!"
"And no one thinks twice about your being nude!" one of the gals in the back added with a snicker.
"Well, I don't think they're going to be back next year," Sean said and, sitting up, he felt a nudge from the First. Putting a hand on the pilot's shoulder, he leaned forward and pointed.
"Thataway."
The pilot swung them over and started to head in the direction Sean had pointed, with the other five following. Off to the left, he could see Chad's five Black Hawks also turning to head the same way as they all raced over the desert.
"I see it!" Trey called over the radio to everyone.
"Where?" someone else asked.
"Let me mark the spot!" Trey said as a missile came off the helicopter, and Sean saw it then, too. It looked like something out of the old Saturday morning Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, a blackish kind of ragged dish with a deep purple colored border. There were what looked like black wisps of smoke, or something, that were coming off of it and evaporating as they did so.
The missile hit and exploded right before the opening, throwing bodies all over. There had to be thirty or forty djevels milling around by the opening, getting themselves organized.
"Shit, we're less then ten miles from the burn!" Roxy said, looking around. "That's gotta be their target!"
Sean nodded. "Alright! Get us on the ground a thousand yards from the enemy! Form up in skirmish lines by squads! Use formation Charlie! Squad leaders, sound off!"
"First Squad!"
"Second Squad!"
"Fifth Squad!"
"Sixth Squad!"
"Seventh Squad!"
"Eight-ball Squad!
"Land us, Trey!" Sean said and turned to face the door on the right side of the helicopter, which was now sliding back. Third and fourth squads were back at the camp, along with most of his company. They'd be organizing for the second wave.
"Eight-ballers! Get your asses out there and recon!" Roxy yelled, as they all started to jump out the doors before they'd even touched down. The moment Sean's feet hit the dirt he started running, head down to avoid the Black Hawk's blades, toward the enemy.
As soon as everyone had cleared the main rotor, Trey took off, fired another missile, then turned around and sped back to base, with the rest following.
Sean stopped, drew his big sword, and to looked to either side as the Eight-ballers all went running by in full animal form. The Eighth squad was made up of their fastest wolves, cheetahs, and even a couple of horses. Their job was to make sure none of the enemy managed to break off undetected. Sean got the reference, but as cocaine
was pretty worthless to lycans, he was still surprised some wag had named them that.
"Fifth squad! Get the lead out!" Sean yelled, noticing that they were lagging a little bit. Calling up his defensive and offensive frameworks, Sean threw up the largest spell-deflecting shield he could muster. He had no idea what kind of magic they might use, or even if they'd be using any, but he didn't want take any chances in his first battle.
Chad's troops came jogging up on his left flank, dropping into position as Claudia's moved up on the right.
"As we practiced!" Sean yelled and pointed forward with his sword, "Walk!"
As one they all started to walk forward; Sean checked the overall line. He could see Chad was yelling at somebody on his side to tighten things up, but over all, they were pulling it together quickly. Everyone knew this wasn't a drill.
"Jog!" Sean yelled again, and they all picked up speed. The line still looked good, and Sean stopped watching it, and instead devoted his full attention to the enemy ahead, who were piling out of the hole by the dozens now. The enemy was fully aware of Sean and his people, and the ones that looked like leaders were trying to get their people into a line. But from the looks of things, they weren't having too much success. Either they weren't well trained, or they didn't think they had anything to worry about.
Sean got a good look at the enemy as they closed. There were about twenty of those little nasty djevels he'd killed by Pyramid Lake for every one of the raseri, who appeared to be leading them. Then there was one really big djevel of a type he'd never seen before. Perhaps the one in command?
He'd find out soon enough.
"CHARGE!" Sean roared as they got to the last hundred feet, and they all took off as fast as they good go, then literally slammed into the enemy.
Sean spitted one on his sword immediately, and then just started laying into them like cutting wheat with a scythe. In seconds, they'd killed at least a hundred of them, which was close to half of what was there, but more were still coming out of the gateway.
'Get the big one,' the First told him. 'He's their leader.'
'What is he?' Sean asked, as he pivoted to his left and cut a raseri from crotch to shoulder with a backstroke, then he wound up for another strike.
'Mindre Terror, or Minor Terror.'
Sean looked at the Mindre; it had to be at least ten feet tall and had arms larger than his legs.
'Damn, if that's a minor, I sure don't want to meet one that's all grown up!'
The First snorted at Sean's joke as Sean took a step in that direction.
"Guard my flanks!" Sean called out, and Cali formed up on his left as Roxy took his right. Daelyn moved to stand behind him, throwing her hammer at targets of opportunity, as Sean started to move towards the Mindre Terror.
The djevel in charge immediately saw what Sean was doing and, yelling out something in the language of djevels, it pivoted to face Sean and moved to meet him. However, it was using its weapons—a whip and a flail—to move its troops in front of it, towards Sean.
Sean soon found himself almost overwhelmed by the number of djevels being herded towards him, slowing him down as he tried to close with the Mindre, who was getting closer, but at a maddeningly slow pace. All the while, more djevels were coming out of the gateway and making up for the ones they were killing.
Sean noticed then that the smaller, weaker djevels were all dead; only the raseri were left, and what was coming out of the gateway now were more raseri and something else. These new ones looked like the smaller ones, but they were larger, and they were wearing some sort of crude breastplates. The raseri accompanying them were also armed and armored, though their armor didn't look to be all that much better than some sort of leather.
Sean's moment of distraction cost him as one of the raseri he was now fighting stabbed him in the elbow. Roaring in pain, Sean kicked it in the crotch and, using his foot claws, he eviscerated it as his arm went momentarily numb.
'Cure poison, or you're going to be without that arm for a while!' the First sent.
Popping off the spell, Sean let his arm hang useless to the side as he waited for it to heal and wielded his sword with only one hand now.
The Mindre, seeing that he was wounded, took advantage of the situation and, pushing its minions out of the way, strode close and attacked Sean.
Using one weapon against its two put Sean at a bit of a disadvantage. He was faster than the Mindre, but as feeling came back into his other arm, he debated drawing his smaller sword or continuing on as he was. Thankfully, Daelyn's hammer was constantly flying at its face, forcing it to block with its flail. Her first attack had caught it off guard, and from the dark ooze running down the side of its face, Sean was sure it didn't want to get hit again.
But Daelyn had other things to worry about, so she was only drawing off perhaps half of the flail attacks. There were still a good many raseri as well as the new djevels to contend with, and as Sean was going after their leader, they were all concentrating on him. Roxy and Cali, as well as First and Second squads, all had their hands full trying to keep Sean from being flanked or attacked from behind. Sean himself was having to block attacks occasionally from other attackers, and when the Mindre finally got him in the side with its whip, Sean quickly shifted the sword to the 'wounded' arm and grabbed the whip, wrapping his arm around it and giving a strong pull.
The Mindre wasn't quick enough letting go and stumbled in closer to Sean, and suddenly they were in close combat, Sean with the large two-handed sword he was now using one-handed, and the Mindre with its flail.
The Mindre had the better weapon for close in work, but Sean had the claws on his feet as well as his free hand, and was using them liberally as he blocked the attacks against him using his sword. He needed to switch the weapon to his other hand so he could draw the shorter one. He would have dropped it, but he'd been lectured long and hard about never letting go of a weapon during mass combat, because you'd never see it again, and magical weapons didn't grow on trees.
When he finally got a grip on the Mindre, they started to grapple; then someone stabbed Sean in the kidneys, and he wondered just what in the hell he was doing? Casting a fire bolt, he sent it into the Mindre's eyes, point blank, then once it was stunned, he kicked it and pushed it back away from him as he spun in a circle, his blade laid flat. Daelyn was behind him trying to guard his back, so he arced the sword over her head as he sliced two opponents in half. Roxy and Cali were side by side, behind him a few feet, and were trying to move back up to his flanks.
As Sean rotated to face forward, the Mindre was scrambling to its feet, but Sean now had the space to use his sword and was just out of flail range. Lunging, he took the Mindre in the chest, then turning and ripping his sword to the side, Sean laid its chest open and took off an arm.
It shuddered and fell back to the ground, dead or dying.
Casting another cure poison on himself, Sean backpedaled slowly, working his way back towards his own line.
'You could have warned me!' Sean yelled at the First.
'If you don't learn from experience, you won't learn at all,' the First chided him back. 'If it had gotten really bad, I would have said something.'
Sean grumbled to himself and slew two more of the unnamed demons.
'Gnashers,' the First supplied.
Once Sean was back within his line, he took a moment to look around, being careful this time not to get stabbed while doing so. There were dead demons everywhere, and quite a few dead lycans as well. They were still coming through the gateway, but they didn't seem to be acting with any order or coordination.
"How's the fight going, Chad?" Sean called over his radio, attacking the ones in front of him again.
"Your tying up their big boss helped. Now that he's dead, they're not as ordered or disciplined as they were before."
"Does that mean we're winning?" Sean growled, killed two more of the gnashers, and went after a raseri that had been behind them.
"Yes, now keep it up!"
<
br /> "Rox, Cali, Dae, how are you doing?" Sean yelled.
"I'm fine," Roxy replied, "but I think Dae's hurt."
"It ain't nuthin but a flesh wound!" Daelyn retorted.
Sean reached back with his free hand and, grabbing Daelyn, he cast a cure poison on her, along with a minor heal.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"I think a lot of their weapons are poisoned," Sean said.
"Ye can't poison a dwarf!" Daelyn laughed. "How do ya think we drink so much?"
Sean killed another raseri and just shook his head. "Learn something new every day," he muttered.
"I'm fine, my Husband," Cali said, and lightly hip-checked him as she finished gutting a gnasher. "So far this has been easy. Let us hope it does not get hard."
Sean held his tongue; if this was easy, he sure as hell did not want to see hard!
Sean lost track of time as he continued to hack and kill the demons before him. He became aware of the helicopters coming back, and figured that was the second wave. They had the enemy fully encircled now and were pushing them back towards the gateway. Those coming out of it were often tripping over those fighting in front of it, or the dead bodies of others.
Not long after that, there were twenty of them standing shoulder to shoulder, taking turns slaying anything and everything that came out of the gateway. The pile of dead bodies had gotten so high that the dead were actually starting to slide back through the portal.
"Sean, you need to rest; let someone else have a turn," Roxy said and pulled him away from the line of men.
Blinking, Sean stepped back, and sure enough, another lycan took his place. Looking around slowly, he saw there were several hundred lycans milling around. Wait, not milling, some were eating, some were being treated, and the rest were either doing crowd control for the bunch of people being kept away from the battle, resting, or gathering up the dead.
There were helicopters orbiting up above, and the sun was setting.
"What time is it?" Sean asked.
"Just after seven," Roxy told him.
"Seven? Wait, we came out here at..." Sean tried to remember exactly when they'd come here.