Cade felt a sudden burst of power across his entire body, a sensation not unlike touching a live wire with his bare hand. It was so unexpected that he sat down abruptly, alarming those in the boat with him and forcing their guide to hold up his hand in the signal to stop.
The five boats coasted to a stop with Cade’s boat in the lead and the others spread out behind it in an inverted V.
As the feeling faded, Cade gave himself a quick once-over, confirming that he was physically uninjured, but that didn’t assuage the growing unease he felt. Riley asked if he was all right, but Cade ignored him for a moment, turning instead to gaze out into the growing darkness around them.
The cypress trees cast odd shadows across the water, their branches hanging down almost to the water’s edge like mourners with their heads bowed. A breeze came up, causing the saw grass to sway lazily about. He saw no cause for alarm around them, however.
“I’m fine,†he replied at last, deciding he’d wasted enough time. It was clear that whatever it had been, it was gone. “Get us moving again. I suddenly feel like a sitting duck.â€
Riley raised an arm and gave the signal for them to get under way.
That’s when the trap was sprung.
Several forms surged out of the water around each boat, surprising the men inside them.
Hands reached for the gunwales as the moss-covered faces of the corpses risen from the depths of the swamp screamed in silence at the men who faced them.
Cade didn’t even have time to draw his sword as a revenant swarmed over the side right on top of him. He went down beneath its form, his hands locked about its throat in an effort to keep its teeth from sinking into his own neck. The creature pummeled him with its hands, its overgrown fingernails acting like claws as they slashed against his coveralls and armor.
The vessel farthest to the left was immediately overturned, the Knights inside disappearing into the murky water below. They would not resurface.
The others were more fortunate, the action from the men onboard preventing further mishaps.
But the attack was on in earnest.
As Cade struggled to keep the revenant from biting into his neck, Riley jumped to his defense. The master sergeant’s boot shot forward and knocked the revenant’s head clear of its body while his sword shot out and lopped off the hands of another revenant trying to climb inside their boat.
Around him, other Knights were fighting back, falling on the attacking revenants with their swords and combat knifes.
The battle was swift and deadly.
By the time the assault team had destroyed the last of the revenants, they had five casualties and three wounded Knights.
It was not an auspicious beginning.
Knowing time was running out, Cade regrouped his own team and got them headed toward the target again.
Three hundred yards later, they emerged from narrow, grassy channels into a wider lake-like area. Pulling out a pair of low-light binoculars, Cade surveyed their target. From here he could see that the bayou had taken to reclaiming the land on which the plantation house was built. The boathouse that had been prominent on the pictures from a few years ago was all but gone, with only its moss-shrouded peak still rising a few inches above the water. The swamp had not been content to stop there; almost a full third of the luxurious lawn had been swallowed up as well. It looked like Cade’s men could run their boats right up onto the edge of the lawn instead of having to tie off at the docks as they had planned.
The soft glow of some kind of natural light, most probably candles or gas lanterns, could be seen in a few windows on the second floor. Otherwise, the plantation house and the surrounding grounds were dark.
Which was just as Cade had hoped.
“TOC to Olsen, TOC to Olsen.â€
Olsen, in the air inside one of the Blackhawks a few minutes away from the estate, answered the radio call immediately. “Go TOC.â€
“We’ve reached the edge of the grounds and are starting our advance. No resistance in sight. Wait five, then come in.â€
“Roger, TOC, Olsen out.â€
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Logan stood in what was once the grand ballroom on the second floor of the decaying plantation house, looking out into the night through the open French doors. As always, he wore his hooded robe, his features all but lost in the shadows it created. Behind him, arrayed in a semicircle, were his six senior acolytes.
Together, they made up what was left of the famed Council of Nine.
Or famed it will be, the Necromancer thought, as he tightened his grip on the Spear of Longinus that he held in his right hand. Now I have the power. Now I am invincible. Now is time for the world to know my name.
But first he had to deal with the Templars.
And after that . . . after that there was still one more confrontation facing him.
“Their advance unit triggered the wards ten minutes ago,†said his second-in-command. “We can expect the full force of their attack at any moment.â€
“Very well. Release the corpse hounds and prepare yourselves for battle. I will call forth some special reinforcements and join you shortly.â€
“It is done.â€
One by one the acolytes filed out of the room, each with a specific task to perform. The Necromancer had known the Templars would come after them, he just hadn’t believed they would find them so quickly. It had been less than six hours since his men had returned bearing their precious cargo; a problem in Tennessee had cost them several hours and had ended with six state troopers dead on the edge of some backwoods highway in the midst of the Cumberland Plateau. Still, six hours had been more than enough for him to call forth the power of the weapon now in his grasp. He knew that in time there would be so much more he could do, but for now, what little he had learned should be more than enough to deal with the damned Knights once and for all.
He stepped through the French doors and outside onto the small balcony just beyond. The night air was redolent with the smell of the swamp and the decay of the house around him. He breathed it in deeply, loving it. Death and decay; those were his partners, and he reveled in their presence.
He looked to the south, where a large thundercloud sat fat and heavy on the horizon.
That will do nicely, he thought with pleasure.
Raising his arms out to his sides he called out in a tongue long since dead to the world at large, a tongue he’d only just learned at the foot of his new benefactor.
From the tip of the Spear, lightning shot suddenly skyward.
In the distance, the storm turned toward him in response.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The Blackhawks came swooping in over the trees like avenging angels, hovering over the front lawn just long enough to dispatch their cargo; and then, with the exception of the lead two birds, they retreated back out over the swamps to wait until they were needed.
Olsen and Duncan were in the first of the two choppers that had stayed behind. They circled above the property, using the high-intensity spotlight mounted under the nose of the bird to highlight threats for the ground force and communicating with them via radio. From their vantage point they could see Cade and his men join up with Bravo Team. Fanning out, the group began its advance on the nearby buildings.
“Look!†Duncan cried, pointing.
The door to the plantation house opened, and several individuals stepped out into the porch. Duncan got a good look at them through the binoculars, and what he saw made his blood run cold. He’d seen those hooded robes before, worn by the sorcerers he and Ca-de had faced at Stone’s; he knew what power they had at their disposal.
The battle was about to become bloody.
Olsen got on the radio to their commander. “Olsen to TOC.â€
“Go, Olsen,†Cade’s gruff voice replied.
“I count five hostiles
on the porch, repeat five hostiles.â€
“Understood. Give the challenge, then engage at will.â€
Duncan was already waiting by the switch, and when Olsen gave him the signal, he tuned the choppers communication’s system to broadcast externally.
His voice boomed out across the battlefield. “In the name of the Lord Almighty, I call upon you to relinquish your weapons and receive the mercy of Christ the King.â€
In response, one of the Council members raised his fingers to his lips. The men in the Blackhawk could not hear the resulting whistle over the sound of the rotors, but the men on the ground clearly did.
For a moment, nothing moved on the battlefield.
And then, in a thundering rush, dark forms came pouring out from around the sides of the house and headed straight for the Templar formation.
The first of the corpse hounds ran through an area of the lawn illuminated by the chopper€™s spotlight, and Duncan could hear the voice of the Bravo Team leader clearly over the radio in response. “What in the name of God?â€
They were the size of Great Danes, but no living Dane ever looked like this. Their skin hung rotting on their frames, and their empty eye sockets seemed to blaze with an unholy light. They charged across the grounds with unnatural speed, moving unerringly toward the Knights who were advancing on the plantation house.
The Templars met the oncoming rush with brutal efficiency. They had positioned themselves in such a way as to deliver overlapping fields of fire, and their gunfire cut a swath through the enemy ranks.
Just as the Knights had discovered when fighting the revenants, these creatures were only minimally affected by the bullets that ripped through their already ravaged bodies. A few fell to lucky headshots, but the rest simply regained their feet or came on undeterred.
In seconds they would be among the Knights.
“Swords!†Cade called out over the communication’s equipment and the men of both units drew their holy blades and met the oncoming charge straight on.
Swords flashed, hounds bayed, and both men and dogs bled into the night air.
High above, Olsen and the sniper in the other Blackhawk finally entered the fray.
They targeted the Council members still standing on the porch, taking out two of them with their first shots. Before the rest could respond to the threat, Olsen had fired again, striking a third. While he did not think the second shot had been a fatal one, at least there were two less sorcerers for them to worry about.
As the rest of the Council members dove out of sight behind the portico columns, Olsen turned his attention to the battle below him, seeking new targets, firing again and again until he was forced to reload.
The battle raged on.
In the distance, the storm gathered momentum.
* * *
Once he had secured control of the tempest, Logan set the second half of his plan into motion. Calling upon the power inherent in the Spear, and adding it to his own dark arts, he reached savagely across the barrier into a realm long since forgotten by most men.
With the aid of his magick, he swept up several of the realm’s denizens and pulled them back into his side of reality. Controlling them, he sent the creatures forth, hidden in the heart of the storm.
* * *
Cade moved through the melee, Riley at his side. Grim determination was etched on his face as he moved, his blade flashing repeatedly in the moonlight. Each corpse brought him closer to the plantation house. The hounds were designed to slow them down, of that he was certain, and so he refused to give them what they wanted. With the core of Echo Team at his back, he smashed his way through the ranks of the enemy.
From out of the chaos in front of him charged an incredibly large beast; standing more than waist high, it resembled a full-grown lion more than a dog. Snarling, it launched itself at Cade.
As Riley watched, his commanding officer disappeared completely beneath the beast’s form.
“Cade!†he cried, dispatching the corpse hound he was currently fighting and rushing over to his friend.
He needn’t have worried; even as he looked on the point of Cade’s sword came through the creature’s skull from the inside out. With a mighty shove, the commander rolled the corpse off him, his sword still embedded to the hilt in the base of the creature’s neck. Getting up, he placed a foot on the body and pulled the sword free.
Cade was covered with blood and other unrecognizable substances from the hound’s corpse, but he was otherwise unhurt.
Riley clapped a hand on his shoulder in a silent show of support, and they turned to the battle once more.
A Blackhawk roared overhead, its light dancing across the lawn and over the front steps, and in its glow Cade saw a startling sight.
Gabrielle stood on the steps gesturing to him.
He raised his sword, to show he had seen her, and watched as she turned and disappeared inside the house.
It was clear that she wanted him to follow.
As chance, or providence, would have it, several quick shots from the helicopter above him cleared the last of the corpse hounds from his path.
The way to the steps was open.
“This way,†he cried, charging forward, with Riley at his heels.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Inside the plantation house, they sheathed their swords and drew out their firearms. A double staircase immediately in front of them led up to the upper floors.
At the top stood Gabrielle, waiting.
Cade never hesitated.
He charged up the steps, with Riley close behind.
They encountered no one in the halls, so it was only a matter of moments before they found themselves led to the entrance to the grand ballroom on the second floor.
Across the room stood Logan, the Necromancer.
* * *
“We’ve got trouble,†Olsen said, inclining his head toward the window while he finished reloading his weapon.
Duncan turned to see what he was referring to and instantly wished he hadn’t.
A thick bank of storm clouds had appeared practically out of nowhere, moving faster than any earthbound wind could have carried them. And through a break in the clouds, they caught sight of the cause of that speed within their depths; shapes writhed and rolled within the clouds, shapes that had no purpose for being on this God-given earth.
Clearly, they were some form of summoned being, but not one either Duncan, with his limited knowledge of such creatures, or Olsen, who’d faced more than his fair share, had ever seen before. They were a good ten to fifteen feet in length and shaped, more than anything else, like manatees, except instead of front fins they had fully functional arms complete with claws several inches in length. They had large bulbous heads with human faces and gaping maws full of oversized teeth.
Their eyes, thought Duncan in the instant before the spectres were upon them, their eyes are full of hatred.
* * *
Logan turned to face them as they entered the room. In his hand he held the Spear. He was dressed in a long, hooded robe, tied at the waist with a black sash. Cade recognized more than a few of the arcane symbols sewn onto its surface and knew that this was not a man to be trifled with.
But neither was he.
Riley moved out to his left, his weapon securely aimed at their foe, making it difficult for the sorcerer to strike them both with one blow.
The Necromancer, however, didn’t even acknowledge his presence. His darkened hood concealed his features, but Cade could tell his gaze never wavered from him just the same.
“He said you would come.â€
The Necromancer’s voice was distorted, garbled, and it took a moment for Cade to understand him. When he did, his words set his heart racing as the Templar Commander realized the necromancer could only be referring to one being.
The Adversary.
“Where is he?†Ca
de demanded.
Logan ignored the question, taking a step closer as he spoke. “Why are you here? Did you think you could defeat me?â€
Cade raised his gun. “Put down the Spear. You will not be harmed if you do as you are told.â€
The Necromancer acted as if he hadn’t heard. “You and your pathetic ally?†he asked, looking over at Riley for the first time. “Do you really believe you are strong enough to face me?â€
He didn’t wait for an answer. In a surprisingly lithe move, he swept the Spear around in an arc and pointed it at Riley.
Riley wasn’t taking any chances. As soon as the Necromancer moved, he pulled his weapon’s trigger.
Cade watched, stunned, as the bullets from Riley gun arced around the Necromancer and smashed harmlessly into the doors behind. Logan mouthed something in a tongue Cade could not recognize, and in the next instant Riley was lifted up off the ground and tossed halfway across the room.
The Templar sergeant slumped to the floor, unmoving.
Logan turned back toward Cade, returning the Spear to his side. With his other hand, he reached up and threw back his hood, revealing his features for the first time.
The right side of his face was a veritable ruin; his skin scarred from exposure to some kind of extreme heat, the flesh melted together and re-formed into some hideous approximation of normalcy. Like Cade’s, his right eye had not escaped harm, but where Cade’s was left intact as a milky white orb, the Necromancer’s had been destroyed outright, leaving the empty socket to gape like an open wound in his face. A few remaining wisps of long white hair hung from his damaged scalp.
The similarities between Cade’s condition and that of the necromancer were too obvious to ignore.
Could this have been what the Adversary had intended for me?
And then an even more disturbing thought.
Why didn’t he finish the job?
Despite his inner turmoil, Cade kept his gun pointed in the Necromancer’s direction.
“Put down the Spear and step away from it,†he said.
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