by Jamie Davis
“Onside the main lobby, organizing the first floor barricade.”
“Thanks,” Garraldi said, then followed the pair to the primary building. The three-story brick and stone structure seemed solid enough when they found it, but he didn’t think it was up to the pounding that was would be coming down on it soon.
He jogged up the steps to the front doors and saw the command group clustered inside. Maria looked up as he came through the big double doors.
“I just sent someone to look for you. The retreating shield is working. Tris can maintain the intensity while she pulls it back.” Maria pointed to the others.” Danny and Morgan are manning the upstairs windows with snipers. And they have a solid start on barricading the first floor windows and doors. Well, except for this one.”
Garraldi looked at Cricket. “What about Building Three?”
“It’s the smallest of the three, so fortunately there isn’t much to defend. The forces I pulled back are doing everything possible to barricade it against an assault. But it’s not made of brick and stone, so we’ll see how it goes.”
“We don’t have to hold it,” Garraldi said. “We can pull back to the Building One and Two. We just have to collapse the tunnels connecting the basements.”
“No,” Cricket said, shaking his head. “Our supplies are stored there. There’s no time to pull everything out. We have to hold it. Besides, I figure they’re going to aim for the bigger targets.”
Cricket had a way of finding the silver lining inside any situation. Garraldi hoped the guy was right. If the attackers concentrated their force against Building Three, it would likely crumble in minutes.
Maria clapped a hand on Cricket’s shoulder. “Just make sure that everyone inside is prepared to book it to the other two buildings via the tunnels if it looks like you’re going to get overrun. I don’t want to tell Winnie that she’ll never hear your little quips again.”
“I ‘m not leaving this world any time soon,” Cricket said. “I’ll be the first one to yell retreat! if things start looking dire.”
“What’s the progress on rigging the tunnel charges?” Danny asked.
“Tris took a few techs to check it out. It shouldn’t be a problem with the remaining explosives in our supply. She’ll rig it so they can be blown and caved from either direction.” Elaine shrugged. “We don’t know which building will fail first, so we’ll have to maintain guards down there with instructions to blow the tunnels the minute they see any creatures coming.”
“It seems a bit extreme, doesn’t it?” Morgan asked. “The shield will hold. It only has to last until Victor and Winnie return with help.”
“In theory, the shield should be stronger once we shrink it,” Garraldi said. “but that magic is blacker than black. The techs are barely keeping it patched. And every time we slap a new a patch on it, the structure itself gets weaker.”
“Think of how it works when you sew a tear in your favorite jeans,” Elaine said. “Eventually, you have to get a new pair or they’re nothing but patches. The same thing is true with the shield. We can’t drop it and form a new one. They’d be all over us before we could erect a new one. We can only repair the holes in the one we have. Eventually it will fail completely if we don’t get help.”
“Which is why we have to do everything we can to hold out until Winnie gets back,” Garraldi said.
The others nodded. It was their only hope and they knew it.
“Let’s get back to our positions and finish preparations,” Maria said. “The shield should be walked back to the perimeter in half an hour from now. Check in here in the lobby by messenger if you need any help. I have a reaction force assembled from my remaining security team. We can deploy them to the other two buildings via the tunnels if needed.”
Cricket laughed. “If my little building is in that much trouble, don’t bother. There won’t be much left by the time you get there. Keep them stationed here to back up Winnie when she returns.”
“I’m serious,” Maria said. “Call for help when you see trouble coming.”
Cricket nodded, but Garraldi could read his eyes.
CHAPTER 35
Winnie’s vision cleared. She scanned her surroundings to gather her bearings. She walked a rocky beach covered in sun-bleached twigs. Brigid walked by her side, this time in a shiny steel breastplate over a chain mail shirt that went to her knees. A round, wooden shield, ringed in iron and embossed with a large stylized griffon hung at her back. She managed to make the battle axe look light in her hand.
Something crunched underfoot. Winnie looked down.
The stones weren’t part of a rocky coastline, they were an endless shore of countless skulls. The bleached sticks were bones, not driftwood.
She turned around in shock.
The killing fields went as far as she could see in both directions.
“Another battlefield,” Winnie whispered. “Like the other one, but worse.”
“Yes, Guinevere. The people of this land were driven to this shore. And there they fought and died in the name of their freedom. It was here we first realized the lengths to which the Fell would go. Nothing will ever stop its quest to conquer a world. Here we witnessed the Fell’s ultimate weapon.”
Winnie swallowed. She looked at Brigid. “What did this?”
“A creature the Fell has only used once. Against a people whose control of magic rivaled its own. They were exterminated to eradicate magic from this planet’s memory.
But the people of this land cast one final spell, spending their lives to hurl their most powerful magic directly at the Fell. They imprisoned it in a place of fire and stone, along with its beasts. Only a powerful user of magic can free the creatures from their prison, and only at a great personal price.”
“Kane,” Winnie said.
“Yes. Nilrem Kane found and freed the creatures of the Fell, though others had already found a way to freedom in Europe after the fall. Its greatest creation is still imprisoned, but there is no way to know for how long.”
Winnie stopped and looked out over the waves crashing on this beach of bones. Excalibur felt suddenly heavy. She held it higher anyway.
“What about this? Why is this sword so important?”
“The wizard Merlin came to me after the fall of Rome. He asked for a talisman to thwart the evil sweeping the land. So I went to my brothers and I asked for their help in forging a talisman powerful enough to stand against the Fell and its minions. They were reluctant. It surrendered control of our greatest resource in our fight against the Fell. But I trusted Merlin to use the talisman we created for only as long as he needed it, then return the talisman when his work was complete and the land was light.
“But Merlin’s children betrayed him. They kept the sword for themselves, though they couldn’t use it because he’d imprisoned it within the stone throne, waiting for the one who would wield it someday against the Fell.”
“Me. How did he know?”
“Seasons come and go. Life is born and later dies, only to be born again in a new form. If the one he expected would not appear during his lifetime, the time would come again when another could draw the sword from the stone. In its time of greatest need, the land would birth a champion worthy of Excalibur’s power. When his children’s betrayal forced his hand, Merlin sent his brightest pupil forward in time to find to shepherd that champion until they claimed their birthright.”
Winnie started to ask Who, but said “Artos?” instead.
Brigid nodded. “He was the champion of Merlin’s choosing.”
“So I have the sword. What do I do?”
“Speak the words engraved on the blade as you channel your magic through it. Excalibur will magnify and tune your magic so that it may fulfill its calling and summon the Fae’s ultimate power to wage against your foes.”
Brigid placed a hand on Winnie arm. “You must be careful, though. The blade’s power is beyond anything you’ve ever known. And it isn’t stable. Use it only if everything else h
as failed. It must truly be an act of last resort.”
She gestured around herself at the endless shore of skulls and bones.
“Or else, Guinevere. This is your destiny.”
CHAPTER 36
A bolt of white-hot energy crackled from Elaine’s fingers.
It hit the creature gnashing through the window, singeing the fur between its gnarled brows.
It screamed like a train trying to stop then popped like a balloon.
Ash and dust rained to the floor.
Elaine turned. No more creatures coming. They had six seconds at least.
“Get those filing cabinets back up against that window!” Maria yelled. “They’re coming faster!”
Dusters replaced the toppled barricade.
Elaine looked around to see if anyone had been hurt.
“So far, we’ve been able to hold them,” she said to Maria, after deciding that everyone seemed good enough. “Have you checked on Tris and the techs?”
“I sent Morgan to check. And runners to look in on Garraldi and Cricket.” Maria holstered her pistols and walked over to one of the windows to check outside, peering between the cracks at a stack of wooden desks.
She turned around and headed for the stairs. Halfway there, she turned and said, “I’m going to check on the wounded. We could use some help up here. I’ll be right back.”
Elaine surveyed the lobby. Occasional gunfire crackled upstairs — snipers were still picking off creatures breaching the force field. But how much longer would their bullets last?
A demon would occasionally get through below, but there were enough people on the first floor checking the rooms that none got far. Elaine shuddered thinking of one of those creatures making it down into the basement where wounded were waiting like dinner.
“Sergeant, grab some Dusters and come with me. We’re sweeping the first floor,” Elaine said.
“Uh, yes, ma’am. You think one might have slipped past the patrols?”
Elaine said, “I want to be sure. So let’s get going.”
The sergeant nodded. “I’ll be right back.”
He darted upstairs to collect a few snipers. Elaine wasn’t a military commander and hadn’t an hour of training, but she tried to think like their enemy. A smarter one of those creatures might wait for the chance to spring a trap.
The sergeant was back in minutes. A team of five marched behind him.
“This will have to do, ma’am. I didn’t want to strip the perimeter. There a quite few of them damned things out there. They keep on knocking. Won’t take no for an answer.”
He tried to laugh. It didn’t work.
“It will be fine, sergeant,” Elaine said. “Come with me and keep your eyes open. We’re going to check every door and broom closet for anything that might be hiding.”
The new crew nodded. They were barely kids.
Elaine started to go, but the sergeant barred her way.
“We’ll lead the way, Miss Durham. I’m not telling Winnie that I didn’t keep her mother safe.”
Elaine wanted to be annoyed but she smiled. The man was being kind. Besides, if she stood back, she’d have a better chance at picking off anything that got by the team.
She nodded to the sergeant. He pointed to a pair from the sweep team and they took the lead and started down the hallway, checking each closed and open door along the way. Elaine and stopped in the first room. The door was partly ajar.
She looked inside—a Duster was leaning against the window frame, his rifle peeking through the crack between boards.
Clear.
Elaine followed the sergeant and the others down the hallway.
The first floor sweep took a mostly quiet half-hour. The occasional CRACK still raged amid the Army’s artillery. And the mortars never let up, crashing and exploding on impact, covering the dome in fire and smoke.
The sergeant looked at Elaine and shrugged. The rooms were all empty. Guards at the window waved when they passed. Everything seemed clear.
“Looks like it was just an old woman’s worrying, Sergeant. Back to the lobby.”
“Better to be safe than sorry, ma’am.” He flinched. “My mama never stopped saying that.”
“Where’s your mom now? Is she here?”
“Locked up in one of them Midwest camps. I came in with a group of recruits from Chicago. We’ll get her out of there once we know it’s safe to come home.”
“Yes, we will.” They passed back through the hallway nearest the lobby. Elaine glanced over her shoulder at the partially ajar door. The sentry was still leaning against the window, his rifle out the window, still like a statue.
Still like a statue …
Winnie froze. She involuntarily leaned forward, staring at the man.
“Something wrong?” the sergeant asked.
“Take a look, Sergeant.” Elaine hadn’t seen so much as a twitch from the sentry since she’d been staring. “He hasn’t moved from that spot since we passed him at the start of our sweep. Seems odd.”
“He’s probably asleep.”
The sergeant started to push through the doorway, shouting for the Duster recruit to wake up. Elaine couldn’t stop him. She opened her mouth but the clawed hand reached out and dragged him screaming into the room.
Seven demons charged around the door and into the narrow hallway.
Elaine fell back, summoning her magic, inhaling the power around her despite the exhaustion.
Five Dusters emptied their weapons into the beasts.
Before they could reload, the beasts were atop them.
Elaine sent a sweeping jet of flames from her fingers. The creature yelped then fell backward, writhing on the floor, its body on fire.
The sweep team wasn’t so lucky.
Every one of the Dusters in Elaine’s group was underneath a creatures, gnashing and snarling atop them. One demon ripped out a kid’s throat with a swipe of its talon. Then bounded it off of him, rushing past Elaine into the lobby.
Maria was still downstairs. There was no one else to stop it.
What if they get to the basement?
Elaine leveled a pointing finger and fired a bolt at the creature’s back.
Cursing at her miss, Elaine turned and left the struggling Dusters, chasing the one that got away.
She chased the demon toward the stairs, shouting for Maria — or anyone — to help her. She was still shouting when a weight landed on her from behind.
Elaine crashed hard to the tiled floor.
Claws scraped her back then bounded off of her body and rushed forward the double doors, barred with a thick iron pipe.
They’re not headed for the basement at all!
The first was past the basement door already, now at the double doors, trying to lift the heavy iron pipe.
Her wounds were painful but thankfully not too deep. Elaine managed to stand and chase the second beast as it started to help its companion with the pipe.
She shouted again and heard calls from upstairs.
But it was already too late.
A flurry of gunfire upstairs turned steady.
Elaine cursed under her breath as the creatures opened the doors.
They turned to face her.
There was a rush of the creatures outside, headed for the now-open entryway.
She raised her hands at the beasts and filled them with everything she had.
Her blast of magic smacked them both in the chest then slapped them both against the wall. And then they were ash.
Elaine stepped into the doorway, firing from both hands, clearing the world of demons with every shot.
But it wasn’t enough.
There were too many.
She steeled herself to stand against them.
They were inches away when a pair of shots flew past her. Bits of brain flew into the air. Then Maria was at her side, twin pistols blazing, bolts of magic and fire flying right behind the bullets.
A wounded Duster limped up beside her and assumed a
firing position, pouring bullets into the charging mass. They were barely holding the attack back, even as more and more Dusters filled the hospital steps.
Techs in the basement were doing their job. The dome bucked and glowed, then the force field seemed to burp, leaving it somehow stronger.
The creatures fell back.
But even inside, there was no escape.
Elaine walked to the room where the creatures had hidden. Three of her five-man sweep team were dead. The other two were dying.
She called for help, heading deeper into the room.
The sentry by the window was obviously dead. A pool of blood stained the floor at his feet. His throat looked like an open envelope. Demons had propped him up against the window to fool anyone looking into the partially open doorway.
It almost worked. But the sergeant lay dead on the floor, just inside the door. His face had been chewed off by one of the beasts.
Elaine flinched, then looked away.
She tried not to vomit, tried to forget that she’d see that forever.
She shook her head and turned around, on her way back towards the open entrance. There would be time to mourn the dead later.
CHAPTER 37
Elaine stared outward at the roiling mass of bodies just beyond the hospital steps. Blue-tinted air marked the edge of the weakening force field. Beasts on the other side climbed over one another to try and breach the barrier.
A BOOM from above made her flinch—another shell from the Army’s guns exploded against the shield. It flickered. Two demons managed to break through and scramble up the steps. A flurry of bullets ripped them to pieces.
As it had gone for hours, the force field always shrinking, the resistance getting shoved back into the hospital.
“You need to come inside,” Maria said, tugging on Elaine’s arm. “You’ll be swarmed if you stay out here.”
Elaine had been waiting for her daughter’s return. But now she wanted her to stay away. If Winnie returned, no matter the help by her side, she would surely die along with the others.
“Don’t come back,” Elaine murmured to no one. “Save yourself.”