Satan's Gambit (The Barrier War Book 3)

by Brian J Moses

  If things go as well as they have been between her and Danner, this could very well end up being my daughter-in-law, Hoil realized. I suppose I’d better get to know her, or at least see if she’s okay.

  Hoil cleared his throat as he entered the light of her fire, and Alicia looked up and quickly back down again, but not before Hoil saw the gleam of unshed tears in her eyes. Silently, he glided over and sat down near the distraught barmaid.

  “What’s wrong, child?” Hoil asked softly.

  “Oh, I… it’s nothing,” Alicia said unconvincingly, wiping at her eyes. One hand strayed to her belly as though touching a tender injury.

  “Alicia, you know I’m a rather accomplished thief,” Hoil said dryly and without a trace of modesty, “but more than that, I’m also an expert liar, and I can spot a poor one. If you’re upset over nothing, then Danner’s a Menkan belly dancer.”

  Alicia smiled and choked a sobbing sort of giggle, but her tears stopped for the moment.

  “I may not have been the best of fathers,” Hoil said, “but I’ve been trying to remedy that lately, which includes looking after the woman my son loves.”

  Somehow, that set Alicia’s eyes brimming over again, and with a sob she turned and buried her head against Hoil’s shoulder. He hugged her awkwardly, having relatively little experience with calming women and their often turbulent displays of emotions. He’d never seen Alicia so distraught.

  “Shhhh, there there,” Hoil said softly, patting her head. “It’s got something to do with that little snipe of mine, doesn’t it?” Hoil asked. “Has he done something? Or not done something, perhaps? I can still give him a good thrashing, if you just say the word.”

  Alicia gave another choking laugh and eased off of his shoulder. Hoil handed her a handkerchief he’d recently appropriated from one of the paladins for no better reason than to stay in practice. She took the cloth gratefully and dabbed at her eyes.

  “Thank you, Hoil,” she said, slowly calming her breathing down and composing herself.

  “Can you tell me what’s wrong, Alicia?” Hoil asked. “It does have to do with Danner, doesn’t it?”

  She nodded.

  “It’s just… It’s wonderful and yet…” she broke off flustered. “I don’t know how he’ll react, and I don’t want him to feel pressured and do the right thing just for the sake of it and I… I just haven’t known who I can talk to about it,” Alicia said. “I can’t talk to any of the men around the company, and I don’t know any of the women well enough except Moreen, and I’m afraid of what she’ll think of me.”

  “Whoa,” Hoil said gently, “why don’t you slow down a little bit and go back to the beginning of that thought. I think you lost me somewhere before ‘it’s wonderful’.”

  Alicia took a deep breath, and finally seemed to relax.

  “Well, um, I guess I’ll just come out and say it.”

  Alicia told him, and Hoil started to grin.

  - 3 -

  Kala waited patiently for Trames to finish saying his goodbyes. The batty old man seemed insistent on thanking Alessa and her children for every conceivable kindness they’d shown him. Finally, he was on his way out the door when he quickly turned around and dashed back inside. Trames was remarkably agile and light on his feet, despite his obvious age. He brought out the jar that he’d recently emptied of all its honey, which had since been cleaned and washed by Alessa.

  “May I keep this?” Trames asked brightly.

  “Well, uh, of course,” Alessa said, a little surprised at the request.

  “Trames,” Kala said with a sigh, “why do you want the jar? You’ve already got two more jars packed away that actually have honey in them.”

  “Yes, but this one’s empty,” Trames said patiently, “and emptiness is one of the most useful things in the world.”

  Kala heard a snorting laugh from somewhere in Bronk’s vicinity.

  “Fine, keep the jar,” Kala said, resigning herself to the whims of her ward. The elders of her village had instructed her to accede to Trames’s desires unless they posed a threat of some sort. While doing so tried her patience at times, she was slowly learning to just accept Trames’s strangeness and go along with him. That had brought her here, and was apparently taking her on the road to the immortal plane.

  Kala knew that Garnet was uneasy about taking them with him, but had reluctantly decided to allow the two of them to come along, at least as far as the Binding, which was apparently a portal of some sort into Heaven. He was noncommittal about letting the pair cross with his force, and Kala thought it was perhaps only his curiosity that was allowing them to come at all. He never stated his reasons where she could hear them, and her abilities at kything were not strong enough for her to read his mind. Besides which, doing so without permission was a serious breach of etiquette, and if anyone found out she would be dishonored and shamed.

  Trames of course never expressed a moment’s doubt about their course of action and seemed to take it as a foregone conclusion that he’d get to see Heaven firsthand. Kala bit her tongue and steeled herself to patience.

  Danner swung into place behind the Green paladin Perklet, and Kala stared at him, trying to discover his secret by willpower alone. She’d finally pinpointed what about him made her uneasy. Though her kything skills were quite limited, she was used to hearing a sort of background noise from the thoughts of those around her, even if she couldn’t always make out distinct words without direct concentration. But from Danner she sensed absolutely nothing, as though he hadn’t a thought in his head. Clearly that was impossible, which meant his thoughts were somehow completely shielded, a phenomena she’d never thought possible. She resolved to ask Brican about it once she felt the denarae was comfortable enough with her to answer.

  At last, everyone was mounted and ready to go, including Trames and his empty jar. The old man rode a sturdy packhorse and was tucked in securely between their various packs and bedrolls. He was not an accomplished rider and tended to slide about rather precariously in the saddle, and Kala had learned through trial and error that packing him in place was the safest way to travel with the simple-minded man. For his part, Trames enjoyed riding on horseback as thoroughly as he enjoyed everything in the world, and hadn’t a care as to where the horse took him. Kala, therefore, had carefully tied the horse’s lead to her own mount so she could prevent her charge from wandering off if he accidentally kicked his horse in the wrong direction.

  Which had happened before. Twice.

  The sun had set by the time they reached the main road, and it was almost three hours of heavy riding before they caught up to the camp. Trames had been blessedly silent during the trip, and he stared at the rapidly approaching camp with bright enthusiasm. Kala sighed.

  I may need help keeping an eye on him around here, Kala thought to herself. Too many shiny objects with sharp edges.

  She heard Brican’s voice chuckle in her mind. The two of them had kept up a running conversation during the nighttime journey, and he explained some of the details about the war and the part they all had played in it. From the first call for help by Brican’s cousin Trebor to the formation of Shadow Company and their excursions against the Merishank army outside of Nocka, then the spearhead role Shadow Company had assumed against the forces of Hell during the Barrier War. He told her of Gerard Morningham (the son of General Morningham himself!) and his death, and of how Garnet had picked up the tatters of Shadow Company that threatened to crumble apart altogether, then went on to re-forge them into an even stronger and more capable unit.

  Kala gained some appreciation for Garnet’s command abilities, as well as a cautious respect based on the obvious regard in which Brican Dok held his commander and friend. It still seemed strange to Kala that denarae and humans here seemed so close. She had always been taught that humans despised denarae mindlessly and even their religions had at times been turned against the gray-skinned demi-humans. She had been raised to believe that the outside world would not understa
nd their community, in which humans and denarae had comingled and intermarried for generations, and that she would be in danger should anyone ever learn of her mixed heritage. Yet here already, Brican seemed to accept her, as a curiosity at the very least, and he assured her the others would, as well.

  “I wouldn’t have been so open-minded had you met me a year ago, and perhaps even as little as a month ago,” Brican kythed to her, “but I recently had a… well, a change of heart, if you will, and suddenly the prospect of our two species intermingling actually gives me hope. I won’t tell the others unless you say it’s okay, but if you insist on using your kything, people will notice and it will come out sooner or later. If you’ll take my advice, I suggest you just be up front and tell Garnet and the other officers. That’s a tactic that seems to work pretty well in this unit, ever since Gerard first met with us and dictated the terms of his command.”

  Brican chuckled again.

  “What’s so funny?” Kala asked.

  “I was less than happy about having a human commander,” Brican replied ruefully, “and I challenged Gerard five minutes after he first came to us. I ended up on the ground a few seconds later, and I think it was right then I started to respect a human for the first time.”

  As they moved through the camp, Kala noted with approval the careful arrangement of the denarae encampment. She had never actually seen or experienced troop-based combat or command, but she had read several books belonging to the war master in her village, and one had stressed the necessity of an orderly camp. It demonstrated the overall orderliness of the command itself.

  “What a wonderfully tidy place,” Trames commented.

  They all dismounted, and Garet and Perklet said their farewells and continued on to where the bulk of the paladin army was camped.

  Within minutes, Garnet had gathered the officers of his company around him and was receiving a full briefing. Kala followed him, curious to know more about him… his unit, she corrected herself. And in truth, she didn’t know where else to go. Trames walked along beside her, a content expression on his face.

  But then, Trames always looked content.

  “How’s the archery training coming in Yellow and Orange?” Garnet asked. “Michael? Marc?”

  “More or less smoothly,” Marc replied. He twitched his orange cloak so it was out of the way as he squatted to sit on his heels. “The timing is literally a pain in the ass, but I think the potential is definitely there with some more work. We’ve almost got it down.”

  “I think only one person has gotten hit in the last three drills we ran,” Michael added.

  “I want a demonstration,” Garnet said.

  “When?”

  “Got anything important to do right now?”

  Marc snorted. “Apparently not.”

  “In the middle of the night?” Flasch protested.

  “It’s not even your platoon,” Michael retorted.

  “Oh,” Flasch said with a relieved smile, “by all means then. Take all the time you need.”

  “You’re up tomorrow night,” Garnet said with a straight face, “and however long it takes Yellow and Orange to get it down, I want Violet and Green working just as long tomorrow.”

  Flasch glanced in alarm at Marc. “Make it snappy, would you?”

  Kala watched the interchange with a perplexed expression. None of the books she had read indicated that such a freestyle, laid-back manner of leadership would have any notable success, which didn’t seem to add up against what she had just witnessed and the towering reputation Brican had related to her. Had the denarae been inflating their prestige and accomplishments to impress her? She didn’t think so.

  She resolved to watch and see how it played out.

  The two denarae units in question formed up and disappeared into the night. Their dark armor and dark skin blended with the inky blackness, and she barely heard a sound as they suddenly vanished. She followed unasked and unnoticed behind the officer corps, and only Brican gave her any sign that he’d noticed her presence. He motioned for her to follow, as if she hadn’t already been in the process of doing so.

  “Ah, yes, but now you have an official offer from an officer to accompany us,” Brican kythed in response to her unvoiced comment. “So if Garnet asks, I won’t have to lie to cover for you.”

  When they caught up with the two platoons, they had already assumed battle formations consistent with diagrams and exposition in the books Kala had read. Or nearly so. The archers with Marc were in an odd configuration, too close together and clustered. She was about to comment on this, but instead kept her tongue in check and watched to see the results.

  At some unseen signal, the front platoon led by Michael started forward at a trot, weapons drawn and held like they were actually approaching an enemy. The only opposition Kala saw was a line of trees marking the edge of a forest, but they might as well have been facing a wall of slavering demons for the intensity they displayed. The archers in the rear platoon nocked their arrows and held them ready, but did not draw back on their bowstrings.

  Again, some silent command was passed – and finally Kala realized it was all being done through denarae kything – and the arrows were readied and aimed carefully. Then suddenly they released, and fifty arrows sped toward the backs of the denarae marching forward. They were only a scant thirty or forty yards ahead – already starting to vanish once more into the darkness – and it took only a second for the arrows to cross that distance. A heartbeat after the arrows were released, however, the forward platoon of denarae abruptly crouched to the ground, and at first Kala was horrified to think that they had all been struck down from behind in a tragic accident. But they were only on the ground for an instant, then they were immediately back on their feet and already moving forward. The arrows had all passed by overhead, and not a single man had been hit. It was a perfectly coordinated and synchronized tactic, and Kala could only admire the audacity and split-second timing it must take.

  “You should see some of the bruises we acquired trying to get this right,” Garnet said, turning to Kala as though he’d expected her to be there all along. “Fortunately, most of our paladins have some knowledge and skill at healing, so there were no serious injuries.”

  “Who thought of this tactic? It’s brilliant,” Kala said.

  “And impossible for any other unit to do,” Garnet said with a touch of pride in his voice, “even though it only works at close range, since anything longer would require the archers to fire over their heads anyway. It was an idea Gerard and I tossed about before I assumed command of the company. We didn’t have the time or resources to test it out until recently, though. By the time we reach the Binding, we should be able to test out new applications, and I can start having some fun with it.”

  Kala smiled with him.

  “Have you ever used Hanzri’s[17] collapsing defense?” Kala asked.

  “Saved our lives during the Barrier War,” Garnet replied.

  “If you leave one or two units within the semi-circle, perhaps they could lay down a rotating line of fire,” Kala said, picturing the maneuver in her mind, “so the inner group fires past one platoon at a time, let’s say, then shifts to fire over the next platoon.”

  Garnet frowned a moment in thought, then grinned at her. His teeth gleamed in the dim light of the night.

  “It’s got potential,” Garnet said. “We’ll have to try that with randomized alternation of platoons. A smart opponent might notice a sequential pattern and exploit it.”

  Kala grinned back at him and found her cheeks warming. She was glad the night hid the flush on her face.

  “We have a guest,” Brican murmured aloud, coming to her rescue and pointedly looking past Garnet’s shoulder. They turned and Kala saw an athletic older man wearing dark clothing walking toward them.

  “Danner’s father, Hoil,” Brican told her.

  Hoil nodded politely to the men from Shadow Company, but his attention was focused intently on his son. Danner looke
d at his father with cautious curiosity as he walked forward to meet him.

  “I thought I’d find you here,” Hoil said. “That squad leader of yours, Caret, said you’d returned.”

  “We were just testing out some new tactics,” Danner said. “What’s up, dad?”

  “I think you’d better go have a talk with Alicia,” Hoil said, “and right now.”

  “What’s wrong?” Danner asked in concern.

  “With her? Nothing out of the ordinary really, and my grandson’s doing fine, too,” Hoil said, “she just really needs to see you now.”

  “Well what is it ab…” Danner abruptly stopped and stared at his father in shock. “Grandson?” he whispered.

  “Alicia’s pregnant, boy,” Hoil said. “Congratulations, son. You’re going to be a father.”

  Chapter 14

  Wisdom cannot be given. It must be earned.

  - Elven Proverb

  - 1 -

  Within seconds, the whole Shadow Company camp had been informed of Danner’s unexpected news, and as he disappeared in search of his gravid girlfriend, denarae slapped him on the back and congratulated him heartily. Brican watched his friend go and smiled, but he also felt his heart sink.

  Now Danner would know the same clawing fear that plagued Brican’s deepest thoughts. Brican had two children growing inside his wife’s belly, and if they couldn’t bring an end to the war in Heaven in time, those children would die within seconds of their birth. Danner’s unborn child faced the same fate, as did an entire generation of children waiting to be born across the entire world.

  Brican hated that his children’s future and that of so many others was dependent on the outcome of a war that had started before the world had even been created. Their lives, their very existence, relied on entities that – as far as Brican was concerned – cared little about the mortal lives they imperiled. Angels and demons both. Hell was waging a war that threatened the existence of life everywhere, and Heaven had actually dispatched an assassin to murder mortals just to protect their own interests.