“Sure we have,” Johnny told him. “It’s somewhere on the island.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny.”
They sprinted to where the massive ship was coming in.
“Man, I hope it doesn’t try to land where we set down. It’ll crush what’s left of the dropship.”
“Why would you care? That thing’s never gonna fly again, anyway.”
“It’s the principle that matters.”
“Principle schminciple.”
“Shut up and run. They have bogeys up their asses and a very nasty welcoming committee on the ground. They’re gonna need our help.”
“I will shield them,” the Morgana declared, “and then, we will clear this rats’ nest from the face of the Earth.”
“We will keep your people safe,” the lead Meligornian mage told her.
She nodded and ran to where she could watch the big ship touch down. It found a landing site around the slope from where the missile batteries were. Unfortunately, the location seemed to be in the middle of a field of auto-turrets.
These didn’t reveal themselves until after the ship had landed and a squad of Dreth jogged down its ramp. The Morgana was barely quick enough to create a shield around them as the first turret opened fire.
The Dreth hesitated and their stride faltered when they registered the magic around them. One of them pointed at her and they ran forward.
“Clear the way!” the gunnery sergeant roared as his counterpart on the other team yelled, “Make those boys a hole.”
The Marines raced forward with the team, Vishlog in the lead. Together, they targeted the turrets and the rebels who emerged from holes and hollows concealed among the rocks.
Soon, the ground between the Morgana and the Dreth writhed with a dozen small skirmishes. Shots were exchanged and men screamed and fell. With a roar, the warriors rolled into the field, shielded by the Morgana’s magic while the Meligornian shielded those already fighting for her.
As the new arrivals reached the Marines and the team, the fight retracted around the Witch’s position. Through it all, the blue of her shields didn’t falter. It shifted to protect them from new threats, such as the ever-present auto-turrets, but it didn’t fade.
The Marines enjoyed the purple-hued protection of the Meligornians, but they made no complaint. There wasn’t a single one of them who considered purple a color for girls alone—not anymore.
Chapter Forty-One
“We need to know where that damned front door is,” Lars all but growled as they fought their way up the slope.
“Well, it sure as shit ain’t on the lower slopes,” Frog retorted. He flung an arm in the direction of the rocky wasteland rising above them. “Knowing our luck, it’s probably on the other side of that mountain.”
“Mountain…” Johnny said and his eyes narrowed.
“Uh oh,” Frog murmured. “I’ve seen that look before. It means he’s having an idea.”
“Really?” Marcus asked and fired a short burst to eliminate another rebel. The guy exploded in spectacular fashion and he whistled. “Don’t let those assholes get anywhere near us. They go up like the Fourth of July.”
He swiveled to destroy another turret that appeared as one of the Marines moved further up the slope. “Watch where you step. You’re not goddammed bulletproof, shit for brains.”
The man gave him a single-digit wave, which he returned with gusto. “You’re very welcome.”
Suddenly, he brought his rifle up and fired toward him and Marcus fell prone in panic. The familiar sound of an explosion reached him. “And neither the hell are you,” the Marine yelled and went back to keeping their flank clear.
The guard looked over his shoulder and saw the remains of another of the island’s resident suicide bombers.
“They must have run out ammo,” Frog remarked and shot another three who emerged from the cover of some rocks below them.
“That’s not a goddamn mountain,” Johnny declared. “We’re sitting on an extinct volcano. Look at the rocks around us. That’s basalt. See how grainy it is.”
“I don’t give a shit what kind of damned rock it is,” Elizabeth snapped, fired three rapid shots, and felled another rebel who exploded on death. “I simply want to find the front door, kick it in, and kick every ass I find inside.”
She pivoted and fired again. “Tell me how your beloved basalt can help me do that.”
“Well, these guys probably put their main entrance right in the center.”
“Of a volcano?”
Marcus smacked Johnny upside the head. “Don’t be an ass, Johnny. We saw the top view. There’s a damn valley right in the middle of this island. It’s got green grass and everything.”
“It’s a volcano,” his teammate argued. “It is.” He gestured at the land around them. “Just look at it.”
“I am looking, Johnny, and all I see is a damned hill in the middle of a tropical paradise.” He fired a burst into another bomber and several quick, short bursts into a cluster of rebels who raced down the slope above them.
These ones didn’t explode, but they died all the same.
“Well, these asswipes have to be coming from somewhere,” Elizabeth screamed. “Tell me where, for God’s sake.”
The whistle of a round passed too close for comfort and forced her to hug the ground.
“What. The. Hell! Stephanie, get your mind on the job.”
“Uh…” Frog began and Lars swore.
The team leader circled his hand over his head and the skirmishing Marines and Dreth began to work their way in.
“What?” Elizabeth yelled and frustration brought her tones close to a scream.
A group of rebels descended from the top of the ridge to cut the Dreth off from the main group. A second rebel squad had appeared out of the trees below, carrying a machine gun. “You have to be shitting me. Lars!”
He glanced at her and fired at a bomber who’d darted out of the same hole in the ground as the last one. “What?”
When he glanced back, his target was down, but another two had risen to take his place. “Oh, for pity’s sake!”
He’d caught sight of the machine gun and the danger to the Dreth. “Frog! Johnny! You’re up.”
The two men raised their heads and followed the jerky stabs of his hand as he pointed one way while he focused on the incoming bombers. When his blaster ran out of charge, he threw it at the rebels and snatched up the rifle resting on the ground beside him.
“Are you good?” Marcus asked and he nodded.
“The Dreth!” he shouted, and Vishlog looked over from where he’d thinned out another wave coming up from the tree line.
“I’ve got it.” Marcus was already moving and stumbled and slid toward the nearest Marine. “Need your help.”
“Are you buying?”
“Nope, they are.” He grinned and pointed at the big warriors. They’d forgotten they were supposed to regroup and had begun to wade into the threat that attacked from the top of the mountain. They hadn’t noticed the slow and subtle advance of the force behind them.
The Marine gave a fierce smile and spoke rapidly into his comms. To Marcus, it was like watching a pack of dogs come to life. He swore their ears pricked.
As if the sudden tension was a signal, the two cats bounded over to him. He sighed and looked at them. “I don’t suppose it would do me any good to tell the pair of you to stay, would it?”
Bumblebee laid back his ears and hissed.
“I didn’t think so.” He found himself speaking to an empty space. The Marines had begun to move and the felines didn’t want to be left behind. They bounded around the edge of the contingent and ran with them as they came up on the Dreth’s rear.
“Incoming!” one of the Marines called. The rearmost Dreth turned and quickly raised the muzzles of their blasters so the reinforcements weren’t looking into the barrels.
“Fall back to the Witch!” Lars ordered, his voice loud and clear through their comms, and the Dreth
glanced at where the Morgana stood.
As they watched, the shield in front of them shuddered.
“Fall back,” he repeated. “Fall back, now.”
Bumblebee and Zeekat ran the perimeter of the group for a while, then broke away and moved up the slope to come in wide around the approaching rebel forces. The enemy watched them and a couple took potshots at the big beasts as they passed.
The danger was short-lived, however, as the revolutionaries turned their attention to the much larger threat they thought the Dreth presented. With the Marines covering the skirmishers coming in from below, the warriors focused their attention on those from up the hill.
Now, however, the Dreth didn’t move out to meet them. Instead, they moved back toward the Morgana and extended their line until it formed a barrier between the island’s inhabitants and the cluster of Marines who guarded the Witch. As the blue shield slowly faded, it was replaced by a glowing haze of purple.
The Meligornians had noticed what Elizabeth had seen and now worked to replace the Morgana’s fading protection with their own. Until the Dreth had drawn closer, they hadn’t been able to cover the Morgana and her Marines as well as the warriors.
Now, however, they could.
The cats were on their own.
Neither of them seemed to mind. Once they’d slipped past the incoming force, they’d faded from view. When the Dreth reached the Morgana’s perimeter, the cats made their presence felt and rebels toward the rear fell screaming. As he worked his way through the line of Marines, Marcus cursed.
“If anything happens to those two, the Morgana won’t stop at blowing the base up. She’ll destroy the planet.”
The two Dreth and four Marines closest looked at him.
“I mean it. I need to get to the cats and make sure nothing happens to them.”
One of the Dreth clapped him on the shoulder and the force of the blow almost knocked him to his knees. “This way,” the warrior told him and casually shot a rebel who tried to slide into cover. “They went this way.”
His large comrade moved with them, and the rattle of equipment said the Marines were coming, too.
“Don’t get cut off,” their sergeant ordered.
“Do not make us come and get you,” the Dreth leader warned.
Marcus ignored both. Neither Lars nor Stephanie had said a word. Ms E made up it, however.
“Get scratched and I’ll make you wish you hadn’t been born.”
As she spoke, a great bell rang. Its single toll echoed over the island, shook the sound waves, and made Marcus’s head ache. One of the Dreth groaned.
“Where is the temple?” the other asked.
The Marines looked around and continued to fire on the enemy as they searched for the source of the sound. Before they could say anything, the Morgana’s voice rang out.
“Leave now. You have two hours before I melt this island to slag. This is your one and only warning. Leave, now.”
The air around her shimmered with heat and magic. The ground burned underfoot and the mountain gave the occasional shudder and still, the rebels continued their onslaught.
They didn’t try to flee, and they didn’t waver. They careened down the mountain in waves amidst volleys of gunfire while some hurled grenades. The Meligornians’ silver hair was gray with sweat. Discarded batteries lay scattered around their feet.
“Don’t let them over-extend themselves,” Lars murmured. “I don’t know if we can save them if they go down and Stephanie falls, too.”
“She wouldn’t fall, would she?” Avery asked, but he found his answer in the worried set of Lars’s face and the pallor of her skin.
Her hair, too, hung lank and dark against her back and sweat coated her face in a glistening sheen.
“I’m out,” Brenden called, and one of the Marines tossed him another charge and another magazine.
“Don’t waste ʼem.” He didn’t stop for thanks but rolled to fell another bomber, followed by another two skirmishers who worked their way from one piece of cover to the next. Brenden reloaded as Frog laid a blaster down beside him.
“Gonna get some more ammo,” the small man told him. “I need to borrow your sidearm.”
He raised an eyebrow. Frog gestured toward the mages. “They’re getting tired and I’m darn sure they’re almost out of batteries. Most of us are down to our last magazine or charge pack, too.” He pointed at the killing zone. “No one’s using those. I’m gonna get some.”
His teammate sighed and rolled to his feet. “I’ll come. Someone has to save your scrawny ass.”
He tapped the Marine. “We’ll be back. Don’t shoot us.”
The man was passing the message as he and Frog slipped toward the nearest body. Rifle fire cracked behind them, but nothing came near. They reached the first body, took the rifle that had fallen from his hands, and lifted the ammo from its belt.
By the time they reached the second, they had company. Bumblebee skulked up on one side and lowered his muzzle to the cartridge and rifle Frog had reached for. He batted the cat’s nose away, and Bee backed off.
“So, do you boys want company or are you fixing to do this all by yourselves?” the Marine asked and the guard glanced at him.
He glared at Brenden. “Can’t you keep a secret?”
His teammate grinned and peered around to make sure they were still clear. “It’s not my ass gonna get kicked.”
“Sure it is,” Lars assured them over the comms, “but you’re in real good company.”
The Marine gave an exasperated sigh. “Now see what you’ve done. Both our bosses are mad at us.”
Frog hurried to the next body. “They’ll forgive us if we bring back enough for them to not have their asses shot off.”
The others scrambled to follow suit and none of them paid heed to the gunnery sergeant’s dry, “Don’t bet on it.”
“Incoming!” rang through their ears a short moment later and they bolted for their lines, Bee and Zeekat bounding back with them.
When they’d passed the first row of men, they laid their haul out in the open behind them and the Sergeant was quick to take over.
“Corporal, see these weapons get to those who need them.”
The next wave of rebels arrived with another machine gun. They lugged it half the distance between the Morgana and the trees and set it up behind a pile of corpses.
“That’s…innovative…” Johnny murmured as each rebel they dropped was added to the pile. “Cold, but innovative.”
“Don’t make it sound so admirable,” Ms E snapped as she shot another one.
Once the pile was high enough, the rebels dragged the gun into place behind it and opened fire.
“I am so sick of this shit,” Marcus cursed and looked around. “Does anyone have a grenade?”
Frog grinned. “Not yet, I don’t.”
Before the others could stop him, he bounded into the fray, ducked from one piece of cover to the next, and prayed he didn’t walk into any friendly fire. It was a relief when he was suddenly encased in purple but not so much of a relief when the shield showed ripples on both sides.
“I’m on your side, you assholes!”
“Get your donkey-dicked ass out of the firing line, you shit-for-brained civilian,” the gunny yelled in response.
Frog had a sudden, stunned realization. “Wait… I have a shield.”
Marcus groaned and pressed his forehead against the ground.
“No, no, no. No! Frog, don’t you dare!”
He straightened. Taking his time, he raised one hand in single-fingered salute toward his own lines, pivoted, and ran head-long at the machine gun.
“Frog you shit-for-brained asshole.”
The guard laughed as a hail of bullets crazed the shield in front of him. The ripples created spread so fast he could barely see through it and in the next moment, the shield began to fade.
“Oh…oh, crap. Oh dear. Oh no. Oh, hell no. Must go faster. Mustgofaster mustgofastermustgofaster…�
��
He reached the pile of bodies and flung himself over, thrust the gun sideways as he tackled it, and rolled. Gunfire erupted behind him when his own side fired into the rebels while the enemy turned to shoot him.
Two colored blurs leapt overhead and twisted toward him.
“Hey! Ow! Watch where you’re putting those teeth,” Frog protested as two sets of jaws closed around his shoulders.
The ride back to his own lines was bumpy and fast, but the purple that formed a barrier between them and the rebels didn’t falter. When he reached the safe zone, he discovered there were only five Meligornians still standing. The sixth was down and out for the count.
“Is he…” he asked when he’d been relieved of the gun and the cats had let him go.
“No,” one of the others told him before he focused on the Morgana. “No thanks to you.”
He sounded tired and disgusted and honestly, he couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t a good feeling and he shrugged while he tried to work out how he could make it better and came up blank. He lay where the cats had dropped him and closed his eyes.
“Going to get a grenade, huh?” Marcus challenged and made a show of peering at him more closely. “Well, where is it?”
Frog groaned. His teammate nudged him relentlessly with the toe of his boot. “You forgot it, didn’t you?”
“I… It’s possible.” He evaded the question, then he added, “I saw this machine gun, you see…”
Marcus’s next nudge wasn’t so gentle, and he rolled away and onto his feet. “Wanna help me set it up?”
“Uphill or downhill?”
It didn’t take them long to have it aimed downhill but it didn’t take them long to run out of ammunition for it, either.
“You couldn’t have taken more before you had your ass dragged out of there?”
“Quit your bitching. I got you a machine gun. What more do you want?”
“Some way to make it more than a fancy paperweight.”
Frog sighed. “Fine! I’ll go and—”
Vishlog swept him off his feet and dived on top of him.
“Hey…” The protest emerged as a wheezing gasp but was quickly muffled when the Dreth pushed his head down and fired at the next wave of rebels to break cover from the trees and hollows they’d emerged from before.
Witch Of The Federation III (Federal Histories Book 3) Page 46