Paladin (Betrayed by Faith Book 1)

by Paul C. Middleton

  Griffin called over Azim and gave them the full brief and went over the worst-case scenario. He explained that these were demons back on Earth after centuries, not just the demonspawn that they more commonly found in ones or twos. There were at least five of them although discussing amongst themselves they felt it was unlikely that there would be more. They started planning for their search and operations on the way to the car that would take them to their mission.

  Interlude

  January 26th, 2014, An underground hall in Stockholm, Sweden

  The young-looking man approached the throne of his father. He had been summoned urgently and was somewhat annoyed. His father looked like the spitting image of Odin on that throne, but, unlike some, he appreciated that while he was of Odin's bloodline he was not Odin. For starters, he had both eyes, the eye-patch being an affectation to keep others on their toes.

  "You have a trip to make Einar. The Greek conclave has warned me that the Egyptians are moving against the lost son of my line. You must protect him and attempt to bring him home."

  Einar blanched at that. Griffin was well known by the shadow conclaves, and all feared him, even the leaders.

  "My King, I will take this task if you so require, but would it not be wiser to send a larger group than me alone? I realize I have a reputation for not being... the best of companions, but surely for this task?"

  His father firmly shook his head. "No. You are not going to capture him, but to convince him. Your blood will call to him, and the brother-bond should assist you in convincing him of the truth of what you say. More warriors, even if you just took a shieldmaiden to accompany you and warm your bed, might convince him you mean him harm. I am simply asking you to make sure he is not killed and to tell him the truth of his lineage. Then endeavor to bring him home to us"

  Einar knew there was only one response he could give to this command. He was already close to being disowned by his father. He clenched his fist to his chest in salute "As you command my King".

  He went to turn but his father held his hand up "Make sure you don't harm those he perceives as under his care Einar. Don't protect them from the Egyptians either but do not personally harm them. It will make your task impossible." Einar saluted again and left the hall to prepare for his journey. All the information he needed would be available in his rooms.

  Chapter 5

  February 8th 2014, Blue Mountains, Australia

  Everything was going smoothly. They had lucked out when Azim noticed that all three churches that were desecrated had been renovated in the same year, early in the twentieth century. That cut down the number of churches that they needed to watch. Then Agatha pointed out that although all the churches were in Sydney, the churches had been hit directionally, moving from east to west, again reducing the number of churches. They decided to stake out four of these. Griffin and Marcia at one, Joakim and Sean at another, with Azim and Agatha taking two each to the other picked sites. They got ready to watch on the night the animal heads were next predicted by their pattern to strike.

  They'd lucked out and Agatha planted a tracking device on the rear windscreen of one of the cars. This had enabled them to track the demons to their base, a medium- sized house in the Blue Mountains. It looked to have been someone's retreat from Sydney and city life at some point as it was at least twenty miles from any other habitation. It was in the middle of nowhere, and had solar power, rainwater collection and what looked like a satellite link. Nothing they could take out in advance without warning the demons they were coming.

  They started planning standing around a three dimensional mockup of the area and house Azim and Liam had built using topographical maps. While discussing it Marcia had suggested firebombing it while the demons were all confirmed inside. Despite being the medic she seemed to sometimes not think of the pain her solution for killing something might cause. That option was thrown out because of the high fire risk warning. Marcia shrugged. She hailed from northern Canada, so fire warnings were less prevalent there.

  They didn't want to draw unnecessary attention. They decided that kicking down the door was the most practical way to take the demons out. Ambushing them as they left was discussed but with two access roads, widely spaced at the exit point, and their vehicle being off-road capable the group agreed they'd have to split into three groups to be sure they got all of them. Three groups would spread them too thin since they didn't know what powers might be used against them. Joakim was again impressed by Griffin's command presence. He managed to take advice and ideas from everyone and not only form them into a coherent plan, but also clearly maintain his authority. Not everyone could, or would, do that.

  The plan ended up as this. Joakim, Azim, Griffin and Agatha would be the entry team. First, the Paladins trained to be the most capable if it came down to a melee, secondly both Griffin and Agatha were not as accurate with assault rifles. Liam would cover the vehicle and the back door with the .50 sniper rifle, and would have Marcia as his spotter - she was equally capable as a spotter and a medic. As a plus they had worked together before. Andrew, Sean, Lily, Kate, Brett and Hans would cover the windows with their rifles.

  Liam had orders to shoot any target until it stopped moving and then twice more for certainty. The others had orders to shoot until the demons were 'Smoking bloody rags', if they came through their designated 'exits'. They didn't want to give them a chance to do anything unexpected if they got out of the house. Once everyone confirmed their roles they packed up their equipment and got moving.

  Leaving their vans in a state forest parking lot a good 8 or 9 miles away from the house, they hiked the rest of the way. They had already checked that it had no cameras nearby or between it and the route they would take. Fortunately the car lot was empty when they arrived. They left the three vans in the parking lot. The nearby monastery of Brotherhood of St. Michael would pick up the vans if they were still there in 3 days.

  It was a clear night and the bushland for the first one and a half miles of their route was open forest so they made good time before unpacking their sleeping bags except for Liam and Marcia.

  Before they went ahead, Liam and Marcia got dressed in their body armor and ghillie camouflage suits. They then went ahead to set up an advanced observation position at their proposed sniper position. They also needed to check they had clear sight lines. It was open forest for about a half-mile radius and cleared for half that around the residence so it should be fine. Leaving things to chance was not on the agenda, far better to get there early and check it out. They had two backup points that didn't look as good on the map but moved them closer, so they were covered if the first or even the second weren't the best. They used emissions control, just in case. Single words for use had been given to cover many likely scenarios. For example 'omega' meant 'pull out' and 'delta' was 'close in on the house'.

  The main group rose late and spent the next afternoon carefully moving up on the house. When they were within little more than a mile of the house they slowed down further, moving quietly and carefully in the dusk. They all paused then crept forward into better positions as they heard a vehicle coming up the access road to the house. Five people got out of the car and went inside, laughing and acting as if they had no worries in the world tonight. That would change shortly though.

  Over the next fifteen minutes the assault team got quietly into position. They'd decided, as part of the mission plan, to use whatever door was being used by the demons if possible, as it was less likely to be trapped. The stench of them was almost overwhelming to Griffin, but impossible to describe beyond the power behind it. Because of the interaction of more than three powerful individuals he could not tell the total number inside. It seemed that they really must be demons - there was so much more power here than Griffin had ever sensed before.

  Using hand signals Griffin organized his entry team and they move up, quietly, to the door. With them prepared in position, Griffin kicked in the door. Taking his first steps into the room he noticed two t
hings, only one person was in the room and he saw an open trapdoor in the floor. The room was about ten yards across with the trapdoor on the far side. Reflexively he fired his Saiga at the person in the room.

  As the Saiga roared he spotted something in the person's hand. He instinctively fired his shotgun dry into his target. As the target went down he saw a grenade spoon fly off and heard it hit the ground.

  "Grenade." Turning mid-shout he knocked the others behind him to the ground. Azim had seen the open trapdoor and was on the radio, yelling "Omega damn it Omega, they have a tunnel." Griffin's arms, held wide caught him and Joakim pulled them down. Griffin's body knocked the lighter Agatha down. All the others had seen seven of the eight shotgun slugs hit the target, smoking as the holy water took effect. Then the grenade went off. Agatha grunted as a few pieces of shrapnel connected. Griffin's legs got peppered and badly hit, but Joakim and Azim were out of the path of the blast on either side of the door. Most of the hits on Agatha were on her body armor, except for one that had creased her cheek, leaving blood dripping down her cheek and off her chin.

  It was obvious that these creatures had planned this in advance. Griffin, now unconscious, his weight pinning Agatha, who snarled in frustration and fury at the trap. Joakim felt fear grip his heart, and he fought off a rising tide of panic. Azim was in shock as he looked through the door and witnessed the effective self-sacrifice of the remaining demon.

  Then things got really weird. Seven 12-gauge frangible slugs with embedded silver and a holy water ampule in the middle should have been enough to take out anything. Permanently. Agatha had seen the holy water start to smoke in the shotgun holes. Then there was the damage the grenade should have done. But the 'should be a corpse' twitched and moved. She started struggling to roll Griffin off her. She heard a short burst from an assault rifle, followed by a snarl and a scream out amongst the perimeter team.

  "Azim get him off me and then tourniquet his legs. Joakim cover him." She yelled.

  "On it" they replied, getting past the stun from the grenade's concussion and their surprise at the trap that had been sprung. Once she got free, she grabbed the Celtic sword from its sheath on Griffin's hip and drew her own sword. At this point the demon had somehow pulled itself together. Pieces of its flesh and blood changing from its human vestige to a sickly blackish green and quickly sliding back into a complete form. As it rose it looked different, a foul sheen covering its skin, glistening like obsidian.

  There were more rifle bursts, with an occasional shout or scream between them. Then there was a yipping sound as from a jackal, followed by a hawk's scream. The demon grabbed its own sword, an Egyptian khopesh, from the table, looked at the trapdoor then sprinted for one of the windows at the front of the house.

  "He's mine" Agatha barked, and the other two nodded in assent. As the obsidian skinned demon ran towards the woods she gave chase, burning with a berserker rage. "Hell is calling for you demon!". She caught him within 100 yards of the house. Well inside the cleared area. When he heard her he turned and swung his sword at her legs. She jumped over his swing. Her momentum made her legs collide with his face and caused her to tumble in the air. She twisted reflexively into a roll and landed on her feet.

  The demon recovered quickly from his swing and the blow to his head. She moved cautiously towards him as that swing was not as careless as it may have seemed. If she hadn't hit him in the face he would have already swung at her back. He was skilled with his blade. She quickly noted his practiced stance and firm-but-not-too firm grip. Her face briefly held a vicious smile. He might be good but she was sure she bettered his skill. After how far this mission was down the crapper she could use a good fight. A longer sword against her two short swords, and from his movements he was accustomed to having a shield. She drove in with one blade high and another low. He dodged the high blade and parried the low, but now she had closed to where his longer blade would be less effective.

  They continued fighting for several minutes, trading cuts, thrusts and kicks. When Agatha got close enough she landed several brutal pummel strikes which he was not fast enough to dodge. The demon kept trying to open some distance between them, trying to slow the combat tempo. Agatha was having none of that and grinning viscously pushed the pace harder.

  Her blows were more powerful than one of her relatively light frame should have been able to land. The demon often grunted as he blocked from the force of her blows The ringing clash of their weapons was loud in the air.

  Agatha continuously pushed him back towards the house in an attempt to restrict his freedom of movement. The obsidian skinned being caught on to that fast and started angling his retreats. He parryed and blocking her right handed strikes while avoiding her left handed strikes as best he could. Despite these efforts he picked up numerous nicks and cuts. These seemed to heal slowly if at all, compared to his earlier miraculous rate. His breath could be heard over the noise of combat as she pushed him to his limits.

  Agatha had a burning anger flooding within her as well as a sense of fulfillment. She felt as if a dam had burst within her. With each blow that she stuck, whether it landed or not, joy in the combat rose in her. With her dominance over this demon it continued to rise. It felt like this was what she was made for. Later on, how she reacted to the combat would scare and shame her, but for now it seemed a part of her being. As if something that had been caged inside her had been released. She could feel a maniacal laughter trying to escape her lips.

  Any watchers would have been amazed at the skill of both combatants, but the demon's endurance was slowly but surely failing. She became further enraged by the defensive and delaying actions of the demon. He was so clearly outmatched by her. She felt her rage extending itself into her blades and both began glowing with an eerie light. His next attempt to parry was thwarted as her glowing blade cut cleanly through his khopesh and into his chest.

  "You cannot kill me, child of Keltoi, only inconvenience me. Run and I will let you live. Stay and die with the others, fledgling." The demon said, laughing at her all the while.

  "Survive this, you wanking bunghole sniffer." Her left-hand blade swung and cleaved its head from its shoulders. Somehow It kept laughing.

  "I'll remember you when I get back together bitch." The disarticulated head threatened in a loud rasp.

  The whirr-thump of a thrown axe hitting flesh behind her, made her spin to see four figures behind her stepping into the clearing, one with an axe-head buried to the haft in its chest and collapsing. She recognized them from the surveillance photos they had. The animal headed demons. As the one with an axe in its chest collapsed, the head shifted and changed into that of a young man with muddy brown hair. The other three hesitated, seeing their comrade fall. From 50 yards away, on the edge of the clearing, a powerful voice boomed out. "These people - all that you have not slain - are under my protection." A figure that looked like it had stepped out of Viking sagas stood there in leather armor with a sword in his left hand and another axe ready to throw in his right. His first axe had downed its target from a distance of at least 90 yards. He looked directly at the hawk-faced one. "Flee or you will die. By the time I count to five. One... Two..." and the Animal-Heads turned and fled.

  Agatha looked at him and saw that he was pulling a device from his pocket. It beeped and he nodded. "They are gone." He said as he pushed a button on the device, putting it away as he approached her "I am Einar. I was sent to protect Griffin. Where is he?"

  "Err... Well you kinda suck at your job. He's over there on the porch, with shrapnel through his legs." Agatha was still coming out of her reaction to the combat and was feeling fuzzy from the experience.

  "Jag förbannade av Odin's skägg." He said turning and running to the porch.

  Reaching the porch he crouched to check Griffin's pulse and tourniquets and grunted in satisfaction. The wounds were bleeding, but not as badly as he'd feared. He pulled the vest open and placed what looked like an amulet on Griffin's chest and muttered, very quietly, in S
wedish. The amulet started glowing with a rhythm like a pulse and slowed slightly, then a little more and stabilized at that rate. "We need to get him in a vehicle and back to my safe-house." He said looking up to both Joakim and Azim. "Move - I've got his pulse slowed but we need to get out of here - Even with me here things could get ugly if those three recover their nerve and come back! I have a rough surveillance screen around here but I won't guarantee they can't get through it unnoticed."

  Joakim and Azim started. Azim responded "I'll try to hotwire the LandCruiser of theirs, you see if any of the others survived - I hope Liam and Marcia did - we could use Marcia's training as a medic."

  Joakim yelled to Agatha. "Make sure that thing can't come after us and get over here - We're gonna need to get Griffin into the car as quickly as possible and get out of here." Then, more quietly over the radio "Longbow team, converge on acquired transport, confirm status." The radio clicked once, acknowledging the order, then a pause and two clicks, confirming both were alive and uninjured. "Pike team status" There was silence over the radio. "Pike team if you can hear, make for the acquired transport. You have 4 minutes from... mark." Agatha then kicked the crawling body away from its movement towards its missing head.

  The head started laughing again. "That won't even slow me down, little girl." It said.

  She kicked the head as hard as she could away from the body. It squawked and a loud "Bitch" could be heard after it hit a tree. Then it started swearing.

  Agatha moved to Joakim and Einar. She kept the leaf blade out and looked the stranger in the eye "I don't trust you yet, Einar. For all I know you're a freelancer who's working with them. You'll help move Griffin and stay close to me the entire trip. You can give us directions to your safe-house, but if you try to move out of range of my blade without my permission, or do anything I deem hostile, I'll gut you as soon as look at you. Got it?"