by Jan Stryvant
"Isn't there always?" Sasha grumbled.
"Hush, Mom," Kalif grumbled. "The problem was, that best they could tell was, if they went in there, they could still age, grow old, die. Because they weren't immortal. But if they died on their own planet in a certain way, while meditating and hooked up to certain machines, then their souls would be caught there, and they would take on a new form that was immortal.
"Or at least close enough. As long as they stayed there, they were fine. However, they started to reincarnate in the bodies of their young when new children were born. Sound familiar?"
Everyone looked at each other, and then back at Kalif.
"Yes, disturbingly so," Peym said.
"So they decided to destroy their own planet so none of them would ever be reincarnated again. They got in their machines, they mediated and prepared themselves, and then they just blew it all to shit and gone."
"Everyone?" Roxy asked. "Or just the correct ones?"
"I don't know, I didn't get that far, but knowing them, just the ones they thought good enough. I think that's why they also say there was a 'war'. They may have very well triggered one to get what they wanted, while eliminating all those they didn't feel deserved immortality.
"They also left the Wenangar, who I guess you could say were like their dogs, only they'd evolved over time to become their faithful helpers and companions. Apparently they also believed the Wenangar weren't worthy of immortality."
"Wow, that's some pretty cold shit," Peg said and, getting up, she went over and hugged Cali and Sean. "Even the dark elves aren't that bad!"
"So what just happened? Is the Onderwereld really gone?" Cali asked, shaking herself and looking over at Kalif.
"If it isn't now, it will be soon. The place can't exist without the Inangar, and as you just killed the last one, it collapsed.
"And our mountainside?" the First asked, motioning at the countryside around him with a paw.
"You got the power from them, Dad. Or perhaps it's better to say we all did. I'm not quite sure how it all works, again—I didn't get that far before Sean's wives killed him."
"Oh, I was going to kill him before we left," the First said with a dismissive wave of his paw. "If this helps Cali, it's better it happened this way."
"Thank you," Cali said and gave a slight bow towards the First.
"Might as well call me Dad; you're family now," the First said with a smile. "Of course," the First said, looking at all of them, "none of you are to speak to anyone other than another lion about this, right? And that includes you three as well, Rox, Peg, and Cali."
The three of them nodded. "Some things are best kept secret," Cali agreed.
"So," Sean said, looking around. "While I've got a million questions now about where our powers come from, and how it all relates to the Inangar and their tampering, I seem to recall we have a war to fight?
"So how about we all go home?"
"Yes," the First agreed, "I think we should. If those gates didn't drop when Mahk died, we may just have a demon…"
"Djevel!" Cali said with a giggle.
"…king to contend with."
"What do we tell them when we get back home?" Roxy asked.
"We tell them we destroyed the Onderwereld, silly!" Peg giggled.
"Do you really think that's wise?"
"Huh?"
"If we tell them we destroyed the place, that's going to lead to questions, lots of questions, and maybe even some suspicions. You know how people, especially governments, like to speculate. And what lengths they'll go to to get answers to their questions."
"Roxy has brought up a good point," the First said. "Telling them that we destroyed it would not be wise, and they might not even believe us. Let's just tell them instead that we found a way to close the gates and seal them."
"And then we'll get some wacko trying to unseal them," Peg grumbled.
"Let them," the First said with a smile. "It's not like they can."
"Good point. Now, home?" Sean said and pushed the First towards the gateway off in the distance.
The Fall of Reno
King Sladd looked around him. When everything had suddenly started to change, he'd grabbed his mount and immediately rode through the gate, calling for all his people to follow him. Only Prince Talt, of all people, had arrived by that time, with a fair number of his lords in attendance. All King Sladd's lords had been there, and many of Lykta's had already shown, as Lykta was on his way to join his king in this attack.
Prince Vises Ikke was off dealing with the lions who attacked and destroyed the feed pens, another act that told King Sladd he was making the right decision. That if he did not take the initiative now, he might never get it back. And then suddenly, everything had just started to change. Darkness, true Darkness, started to fall, and a strong wind had immediately whipped up—something he'd only experienced on past trips through a gateway in other lands. There was no light at all coming from the sky anymore; their black sun had disappeared. But the main gate was still open, and he'd taken immediate advantage of it, riding out into the night of the jagtområder, into the mild breezes, the fresh smells, the sights and sounds of a different world.
Moving his mount away from the gate, he'd watched as his armies continued to pour through, minute after minute, when a curious thing start happened; they started to come out of the gate at a run, but there were fewer and fewer of them, until finally the gate just…disappeared, winking out like the closing of an eye.
He felt it then; he lost his connection to both princes, Vises Ikke and Lykta. They hadn't died; it was just that they weren't there anymore. The same was true of his land, his utsade, that part of him was just…gone. Riding over to the last demon to make it through the gate, King Sladd pointed at him. "What happened? Why were you running?"
"The gate, it was moving! Away from us, slowly at first, then faster and faster! I never thought I would make it! Everything was disappearing, and the wind was blowing like never before, I could barely keep up! Everyone started to disappear into the darkness!"
King Sladd shook his head. He would find out later what happened. He still had Princes Talt and Skarm left, and a world full of food.
"Everyone!" he shouted, standing up in his stirrups so they could all see him. "The lions have taken away our home! So now we will take from them what is theirs, and make it ours! This shall be our new home!"
King Sladd smiled and shook his fist over his head while the others cheered. He didn't know if the lions were responsible for what had just happened, but anything that would help him calm and rally his troops was more important than the truth. He'd learned that a very long time ago.
"Who is the local commander?" he called out.
"I am, my King!" a biskop responded, coming over to him.
"This place is important no more. Gather everyone. We will ride to the nearby city when the sun begins its climb. Do you know the way?"
"Of course, my King!"
"Good, then let us get everyone ready, for tonight I wish to feast!"
#
Chad looked around the room. Roloff, Maitland, Jack, and Young, all his military commanders, were missing out in the field. Adam was now gone and wouldn't be back for several more days—but at least he'd be back. Jolene and Daelyn were both there, filling in for Sean, Roxy, and Estrella. Oak was there, and so was Bill. Vincent, the representative for the magic users, was there. Also Hogan, the new military intelligence liaison, was there again as well.
Deidre wasn't required, because finance wasn't an issue, and Claudia and Clyde were both out there leading their own people. Sampson was off helping the Sorceress Guild with their evacuation, and Sean's mom Louise was all but glued to his side. His own Max was still overseeing the Reno International Airport evacuation, which would be finished within the hour.
Five people. He had five people, and other than Daelyn and Bill, none of them really exerted any real power, at least not militarily.
"Okay, the lions we pulled out just
before sunrise this morning gave us a fair deal of information. The worst bit of news was just how many people they found being held captive on the other side of the gate."
"Are we going to rescue them?" Hogan asked.
"No. They were beyond rescue, so they did the only kind thing they could. They killed them before the demo…djevels could eat their souls."
Hogan started to open his mouth, but Bill nudged him and shook his head, so Hogan closed it again.
"We're also getting reports that something strange has happened up at the main gateway. Hogan, what can you tell us about that?"
"It's gone," Hogan said.
"What?"
"It's gone. It's not there anymore."
"Does that mean we've won?" Jolene immediately asked.
"No," Chad replied. "How many djevels are up there now?"
"At least another million, probably more," Hogan continued. "The analysts think another couple of princes came through just before it closed, but they're saying one of them looks different some how."
"That's because he's a king," Sean said, walking into the room.
"Sean!" Daelyn cried and launched herself at him, quickly followed by Jolene.
Chad stood up in surprise and watched as Roxy, Cali, Estrella, and even Peg came into the room, and all took turns hugging Jolene and Daelyn. Then Roxy went over and gave her father a hug, too. All of them, he noticed, were quite naked, and except for Cali, they were all in their 'fur' so to speak. Cali was drawing sidelong glances from Hogan, but he might have been the only one who cared.
Sean pulled up a chair between Daelyn and Jolene and looked over the table as the others settled in.
"So what's this about a king?" Chad asked.
"And has the gate really closed?" Jolene asked.
"King Sladd decided to join the fight, which is why we came back a bit sooner than expected. During the course of those events, however, we discovered how to get rid of the gates. They're closed now, for good. And they'll never bother us again."
Everyone around the room started to cheer and clap at that.
"However," Sean raised his hand and they all stopped, "we've got several million of them here in Reno right now. One of them is a king, we think there are two princes, and there are a hell of a lot of other powerful djevels here now."
"What about the rest of the world?" Hogan asked.
Sean shook his head. "We don't know yet. King Sladd had the biggest army, and he got a fair deal of it through when the gates started to go, because he was already preparing for a major invasion. South America, Europe, we won't know what they're facing for a while. We can worry about all of that later.
"My first question here is, how's Reno?"
"Falling," Chad said. "We got our asses handed to us a few days ago, when they planted a spy on us and he gave them vital information."
"Who was that?"
"The new Army general. He was a traitor and had gotten his whole officer corps possessed, then made sure his men weren't equipped or trained to fight. So Maitland took a beating, and we lost more than half of our lions while fighting to buy time so we could evacuate Reno.
"We now have a very large force moving south from up at Black Rock were the main gateway is, err, was." Chad shrugged. "We'll put up a token fight once they get here to slow them down a bit, but at this point I'm thinking we retreat through the city, kill what we can as we do, and just let them have it."
"Can't we stop them?" Peg asked.
Chad shook his head. "I've got less than a hundred thousand effectives on the line right now. We took a major beating and suffered a lot of casualties. Most of our men and women are just too fatigued after twenty-four hours of solid fighting. If we try to stand now, we'll suffer horrendous casualties, and Reno just isn't worth it. I've already pulled half our army back to Washoe to get some rest and resupply. We'll hold them down there to help with the defenses General Young is building."
"What about Jack?" Sean asked.
"Jack's off harassing a large demon army heading to Salt Lake. We've got reports of smaller groups heading north, which we're trying to bomb. Nothing heading west yet, which I suspect will change once Reno goes. Up until this morning, we were evacuating people up I-80. But when we got wind of a new army forming, we cut that off, and we're sending whoever is left south."
"There's still people in the city?" Roxy asked, looking shocked.
"Yup, thousands, maybe as many as ten or fifteen thousand. A lot of folks either don't believe us, don't care, refuse to move, or are just crazy I guess," Chad finished with a shrug.
Sean gave a nod. "Okay, we'll go with your plan and let them have Reno. They're not going to be getting any more reinforcements, so a war of attrition is finally to our advantage. However, we need to make sure we don't let them start breeding, or we're going to be facing what the Inangar did."
"Inangar?" Bill asked.
"Those are the people the djevels killed, Dad. They were the ones who built the gateway machines," Roxy said.
"Oh!"
"Where's the First?" Chad asked, looking around.
"Planning how he's going to kill that djevel king," Estrella said. "He's probably the only one who can."
Sean stood up. "If you have any questions, you know where to find me. Right now, we're all going to hit the showers, get clean, and find something to wear."
"Yes, showers!" Jolene said. "You all stink!"
Sean gave Jolene a swat on the butt. "Go find Rob, I want to see her too."
"Of course!"
#
"Ah, there you are, Dad!" Sean said as he walked up to the First.
"I thought you'd be in bed with your wives?" the First teased and looked back to the north, where the enemy was massing for their assault on the I-80 defensive line.
Sean laughed. "Yeah, trust me, they tried. But I'm still the one everybody here knows and expects to see out in front of this thing. What's your excuse?"
The First jerked his head to the side, towards were all his wives were lined up, in armor, with weapons. "They wouldn't let me stay in bed."
"Uh-huh. Sure they wouldn't," Sean teased back.
"Where's Rob, Peg, and Jo?" the First asked, looking over Roxy, Daelyn, Estrella, and Cali, who were just as armed and armored as his own wives. "They stay back at the base?"
Sean shook his head. "If you look about a hundred yards to the south, you'll see them. Since they're magical support, I didn't want them getting any closer than that."
"Anna' you shoulda' heard the threats he made!" Daelyn said with a snicker. "Iffen they got any closer than that!"
"I can imagine," the First said and smiled. "And if the four of you do anything stupid, I'll have one of the wives put you over their knee and paddle you for being a disobedient child."
"Us? Whatta' bout our Lion-boy here? He's the worst of the lot!" Daelyn said, laughing.
"I'll deal with him myself, just like I always have," the First said with a wink. "Ah, looks like the fight is about to begin."
Sean could hear the commanders all along the wall barking out orders. Pulling his visor down—he was wearing his helmet today—he pulled out his rifle, locked and loaded, then started picking off targets of opportunity while the others along the barricade did the same.
The battle started off slowly. The enemy was still arriving and forming up. It seemed they were a lot more organized than Sean could recall from any previous fights, but then King Sladd was running this one, and he was probably the smartest of all the djevels. He was definitely the most experienced.
"I just can't understand why he's coming down North Virginia Street," Sean said to Estrella and Roxy as they were picking off djevels as they were getting organized for their charge. "I would have thought he'd attack down at the airport where they've been fighting Maitland! Or even come down 580. Why here, of all places?"
Estrella took a shot at a råge, dropping it. "This is the densest part of the city, population-wise, isn't it?"
"Yup," Sean s
aid and picked off a bonde.
"Sladd just lost a lot of power; he's looking to get that back as fast as he can. So it only makes sense for him to head where the food is greatest."
"But there isn't any food there anymore," Roxy said.
"Oh, I'm sure there's still food there; you heard Chad complaining this morning. But for all we know, he thinks the city is still full of people. Dae did kill off his informer."
"Still," Sean continued, "the way the interstate cuts through here, it's one of our stronger spots."
"Not with all these bridges, it isn't."
"You're assuming they're all gonna stay here," Roxy said.
"Huh?" Estrella said, glancing over at her.
"We have this thing called 'high explosives' now? Come on, I know you've seen them!"
Estrella 'huh'ed and went back to picking off djevels. "It never occurred to me."
"Which means it will not occur to Sladd either," Cali remarked.
"You know what's so weird about this?" Sean asked.
"That two years ago we were living a quarter mile down the road from here?" Roxy replied.
Sean nodded. "I thought my life was weird before, but this, this is positively surreal. I'm sitting at a barricade on Virginia just north of downtown with a rifle, about to fight in the biggest battle of my life."
"Wanna burn down your high school when we go by it?" Roxy asked with a snicker.
"Nah, I liked my high school. Was the only place I got to sleep some days! But still, after this, my hometown, the place I grew up, isn't going to be here anymore. I bet Peg and Jo aren't gonna be that happy, either."
"Oh, I don't know," Roxy said between shots, "I get the feeling Peg is very much a 'burn it all down' kinda gal."
Cali snorted. "I do believe Rox is right about our Peg, Husband."
Somebody must have passed a signal then, because at that moment, the djevels broke from cover and charged.
And the battle was on.
As Roxy had predicted, the bridges did in fact all blow up, but not until there were a lot of djevels on each of them. There was a five-second warning, and even with that, a lot of the defenders were dazed for a few moments after the charges went off. But at least they weren't being attacked before regaining their wits.