Gunz

by William Stacey

  If they do, we won't be able to stop them—not without Tlathia. They're so powerful.

  She pulled the Shatkur Orb from her cargo pocket and stared at it. It resonated with mana, its dark interior flashing with small arcs of electricity, like a miniature lightning storm. Thunder rumbled above her. "Perfect," she muttered, thrusting the globe back in her pocket.

  Tops knelt down before her, watching her with concern. "Hey."

  "I'm fine," she said softly.

  "You're unarmed?" It was more a statement than a question.

  "I … yeah, I guess." She must have dropped her carbine, but she didn't remember.

  "Here," he said, thrusting a SIG-Sauer P229 pistol into her hands. "Be careful. The safety's on, but there's a round chambered."

  She took it from him with numb fingers and held it in both hands. He smiled, resting a hand upon her shoulder, peering into her face. "We're going to be okay, Elizabeth. You hear me?"

  "I … I hear you. I'm just … I’m a bit tired. It's been a hell of a couple of days."

  "I know." He took her wrist and turned her empty hand up before putting two loaded pistol magazines into her hand then closed her fingers over them. "People die in war, Elizabeth. It sucks, and it always hurts, but it's a part of the life we live, part of who you are now, too."

  "I know," she whispered. "It's just … first Clara—" Her voice broke. "Now Rey and Tlathia. Who's going to be next?"

  "They were fighters, every single one of them—especially Clara. We all loved her, Elizabeth. I know it's a different love for you, but she was a sister to me, and I know she'd want you to keep going. You have to keep going. Anything that must be endured can be endured."

  She hugged him, burying her face in his chest, overcome by her emotions. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she and Cassie had teased him on the plane. "Thank you," she whispered.

  He squeezed her shoulder then moved on to check the others, verifying ammo and making sure everyone was armed with something. Always a professional, Elizabeth thought, thinking of the team first. She loved them, she knew—all of them. Task Force Devil was as much a family to her now as her real one was. A pang of heartache swept through her when she thought of her mother, little Stephen, and the others. Please, God, let them be safe. Once again, she heard her mother's words: "Don't ever come home again." Her eyes watered, and she angrily wiped her forearm across her face, smearing the tears and dirt. This is who I am, Mom. Why can't you accept that?

  She stared at the roaring flames for several moments, remembering Clara's face when she broke up with her.

  Why can't I?

  ELIZABETH, sitting next to Cassie, watched her finish healing Kargin and Aaron. Both dwarf and man were still unconscious. When Elizabeth had been burned a year ago, Cassie had regrown her damaged flesh, but she couldn't magic Aaron's arm back, only heal what remained, nor could she replace the blood he had lost. The skin on his stump was pink, looking months old instead of only hours. "Well," Cassie said wearily, "that's all I can do. At least they'll live … I think."

  Elizabeth reached over and touched the flesh on Kargin's chest. They had pulled away his chain-mail shirt, the armor now ruined by the foot-wide hole melted through its metal links by the lightning blast. His flesh beneath had been badly charred but was now smooth and unblemished, creating an odd hairless patch on a chest covered with so much red hair that it looked like a bear's pelt. "Will he wake up soon? With Tlathia gone, he's our only hope now of understanding what the dark elves have planned."

  Cassie sighed wearily. "I just don't know. He could also have a concussion, and I don't know enough about his physiology to start messing about in his brain. I might make things worse."

  "I'd recommend a CAT scan," said Helena. She sat nearby, holding Kargin's backpack on her lap, her face weary with strain. "I wish I could have helped more … but I'm not that kind of doctor."

  "You helped plenty," said Cassie. "Putting the tourniquet on Aaron probably saved his life."

  "Well..." The middle-aged woman tried to smile, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "I'd be a poor doctor if I couldn't do that much."

  Elizabeth and the others stared down the highway when they heard the sound of someone running toward them. The soldiers raised their weapons, but moments later, Paco, Masters, and Clyde trotted into the light of the still-burning bus. Both men's faces were strained and pale.

  "What up?" Swamp Thing asked, joining them.

  Paco leaned over, panting, then pointed back down the road. "Movement … sounds … sounds like horses—a lot of horses."

  They all listened, and soon enough, Elizabeth could hear the dim rumbling sound of hooves, a bit like thunder.

  "Cavalry?" Swamp Thing asked.

  "Sounds like it," answered Paco, grasping the large man's shoulder and pushing himself upright.

  "Shit," said Swamp Thing, staring north where the horizon still glowed red. "How'd they get across the river?"

  "Don't know," said Paco. "But we need to move off the road, away from this fire. It'll draw them to it. If we're standing around in the open when cavalry shows up…"

  "Agreed," said Swamp Thing. "Okay, you're still calling the shots. What do you want to do?"

  Elizabeth and the other Task Force Devil soldiers joined them as Paco stared into the woods to the west of the highway. "There," said Paco. "The terrain rises, and there's enough woods to break up a cavalry charge—I hope. We set up a line defense from that big cluster of trees on the right to that large fallen log on the left."

  "Seen," replied Swamp Thing and the others in unison, acknowledging they understood the landmarks Paco had indicated.

  "We set up interlocking arcs of fire facing the highway," continued Paco.

  The thunder of hooves grew louder now. Elizabeth stared north in the direction of the approaching noise. It sounds like hundreds of horses.

  "All right, you heard the man!" Swamp Thing bellowed. "Move like you got a sense of purpose, people. Into the trees, now."

  They bolted for the woods on the western side of the highway. Several of the men carried Kargin and Aaron. While Paco moved down the line, quickly placing each man and assigning firing arcs, Elizabeth joined Cassie and Leela, kneeling behind a tree trunk and staring at the highway, still lit up by the burning bus so brightly that she didn't bother with her GPNVGs.

  In seconds, all ten defenders were in position, with everyone armed with something. Even Helena held a pistol in a shaky grip, her face wild with fear.

  "Give me an ammo count!" Paco yelled out as the hooves thundered closer.

  Tops answered him, detailing how much ammo each person carried. Most had less than two or three magazines.

  Not enough, Elizabeth thought. We'll burn through that in a minute. She, Cassie, and Leela had magic, but channeling mana was tiring, and she felt as though she'd been on her feet now for days, which wasn't far from the truth.

  Paco must have come to the same conclusion because he yelled out, "Listen up! Aimed shots. No auto-fire. Make each round count. No one breaks. We hold the line, or they run us down individually. You hear me?"

  The soldiers yelled their acknowledgment, followed by Corinna, Helena, and the three mag-sens.

  The hooves pounded closer, growing in volume. Any moment now, Elizabeth knew.

  "Wait for it," ordered Paco.

  The first of the cavalry thundered into view, lit up by the fire. At least three dozen black horses—no, not horses, Elizabeth realized with shock, but horselike creatures, each bearing a dark elf warrior upon its back. Nightmare black, the animals looked like an obscene cross between a horse and a demon, with long, needlelike spikes running from their heads down their long necks. They were smaller than horses, and their limbs were thin and their forepaws webbed. As they swept around the burning bus, they slowed to a canter, with the dark elf riders standing in their stirrups, looking about.

  "Weapons free! Weapons free!" Paco yelled.

  The trees lit up with rifle fire, a thunderous c
rescendo. Elizabeth cast a lightning bolt into the massed creatures and saw it arc from one animal to another, the strange creatures screeching in pain. Cassie, wearing the Brace, used a vastly overpowered telekinesis weave to push the riders into a tight knot, highlighted by the burning fire behind them. Elizabeth sent chain lightning arcing through the terrified mass of animals and riders. All the while, the others kept up their murderous fire.

  The enemy cavalry broke, but only a handful escaped back up the highway.

  "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Paco yelled.

  Dozens of dead or dying animals and riders lay scattered before the burning bus. The air stank of cordite, ozone, and blood. The wounded animals shrieked in agony, as did some of the dark elves.

  "Ammo report!" Swamp Thing ordered.

  One by one, moving methodically down the line, the soldiers reported their remaining ammo. When it was Elizabeth's turn, she hesitated, only then realizing she hadn't fired a single round from her pistol. "Three mags still," she reported.

  After Swamp Thing gave Paco a consolidated ammo count, Paco stood up and looked about him.

  "Call it," Swamp Thing said.

  In the distance, they heard the rumble of many more hooves.

  "That was the vanguard," said Paco. "I don't know how, but it sounds like they've moved hundreds of those weird-ass horse things across the river. We can't stay here. They know where we are now, and we won't be able to ambush them twice. We're pulling back. We can keep the highway on our left, but stay in the woods."

  High above, Elizabeth heard the shriek of a wyvern. Her heart pounded. If their mages come…

  With several of the men carrying Kargin and Aaron, Paco led them all back into the trees, moving south.

  ALL TOO SOON, they heard the cavalry again, now moving on the highway and through the woods in a screen behind them, trying to flush them out. Paco led them as quickly as they could, but having to carry Aaron and Kargin slowed them down. Soon, Elizabeth was drenched in sweat and panting. But as bad as it was for her, it was infinitely worse for the middle-aged Helena, who kept falling behind, bent over and gasping for air. Helena wore Kargin's backpack, into which she had stuffed his remaining ax. That's not helping, Elizabeth realized. We're going to leave her behind if we don't do something. Elizabeth met Leela's eyes. "Help me with her," she said.

  Together, supporting Helena between them, they half carried her through the trees, pursued by the sound of snapping branches as the enemy came on. On occasion, they heard one of the strange horselike creatures whinny, but it was like no horse Elizabeth had ever heard and sent a chill down her spine.

  They soon caught up to Paco and the others, who had stopped for them, each man kneeling with his weapon tight in his shoulder. "We can't keep this up much longer," Elizabeth said to Paco.

  He nodded. "I know. This is as far as we're going. We'll never outrun cavalry on foot, and these woods aren't thick enough to slow them down enough. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

  Clyde whimpered, rubbing his head against Paco's leg.

  "Don't fret," said Swamp Thing. "No one could have done any better. Besides, I always wanted my own little Alamo." Swamp Thing moved off and began putting each of the soldiers in a firing position.

  "So that's it then?" Elizabeth asked. The realization that she was about to die made her feel as if she was going to throw up. To have come so far only to die here … it seemed unfair. Will I see Clara again?

  "I'm sorry," said Paco. "But you and the women should keep going. We'll hold them as long as we can, but—"

  "The women aren't going anywhere, brother," said Leela, kneeling behind a tree trunk and raising her carbine to her shoulder, aiming over its scope.

  "No, she's right," said Cassie. "We're in this together."

  Corinna and Helena knelt behind their own trees.

  Paco nodded sadly and joined his sister.

  Without the burning bus to provide light, the woods behind them were utterly black. Elizabeth, finally remembering her GPNVGs hanging around her neck, strapped them in place and turned them on, instantly seeing everything in clear shades of green.

  Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the long line of animals and their dark elf riders moving through the trees less than two hundred meters away. There were at least a hundred of them, maybe twice that number. The dark elf riders carried lances, their wicked points in front of them as their odd mounts cantered forward. "They're coming," she said softly. "Couple hundred meters to our front in a single line from the highway into the woods."

  "Acknowledged," said Paco bitterly. "Let's make 'em bleed."

  Clyde growled.

  "Elizabeth," Cassie said softly, "what they did to Colonel McKnight on Rubicon. I … I can't …"

  Elizabeth shuddered, remembering the obscene fur-covered centipede the dark elf on the bridge had tried to place on her back and its angry teeth-filled mouth as it twisted about hungrily. "Don't worry," she said with conviction. "When the time comes, I'll electrocute all of us at the same time."

  "Thank you." Cassie tucked her rifle butt tight into her shoulder and aimed down its scope.

  Sweat stung Elizabeth's eyes as the enemy cavalry moved closer, but she felt strangely calm. "A hundred meters," she softly called out.

  "Light 'em up!" Paco opened fire with his carbine.

  The others opened fire, with the muzzle flashes washing out Elizabeth's GPNVGs. She flipped them up onto her forehead and channeled a lightning bolt at the closest enemy. The arc jumped from one rider to another. The enemy surged forward, the riders whooping in excitement as they urged their strange mounts on.

  Some of the enemy riders carried short one-handed crossbows, which they now used to send bolts flying at the defenders. The missiles, dozens of them, smashed into an invisible barrier before them, shattering into pieces. By now, Elizabeth was familiar with Leela's weave.

  Elizabeth channeled again, sending a wave of telekinesis into the forelegs of several of the animals, causing them to crash forward and create an obstacle for the ones behind. But there were too many to stop, and others flowed around them.

  This is it, she realized. They'll be on us in seconds.

  She glanced at Cassie and saw the acceptance in the other woman's eyes.

  Elizabeth drew in as much mana as she could, intending to release twin bolts of electricity along the line of defenders, killing them all at the same time. But then she heard something she'd never have expected—the roar of a powerful turbine engine.

  Seconds later, she saw the bulk of a wheeled armored vehicle with a turreted cannon tear down the highway on their right, followed by two more. Tires screeched as the three vehicles skidded to a halt. A moment later, a thunderous roar shook the trees, knocking leaves loose and lighting up the night as the cannons—Gatling guns, she realized—opened up with automatic fire, shooting directly into the approaching cavalry force. The enemy's charge fell apart under the murderous fire. Explosions ripped through their ranks, shredding animals and riders alike, bursting entire trees. Never in her life had she heard anything so loud, and she fell forward, covering her ears with her hands, frozen with terror. Leaves fell like rain, and the stench of cordite was so thick, she feared she'd choke.

  When the cannons finally stopped, the enemy was shattered. Those that still lived fled, while scores of dead and dying animals and riders lay everywhere. The vegetation was … gone, with trees shattered and clumps of dirt thrown everywhere, looking as if a hurricane had swept through.

  My God, thought Elizabeth, stunned by the carnage.

  The task force soldiers cheered, now standing and waving their arms at the armored vehicles. Swamp Thing hollered a long, drawn-out yell of pure joy.

  The army had finally arrived.

  Soldiers poured out of the backs of the three vehicles, moving quickly toward Elizabeth and the others. More armored vehicles roared down the highway, each stopping and discharging soldiers from their rear doors. They were Canadian, she saw, all wearing body armor and helm
ets and with their faces painted green. The Task Force Devil survivors embraced them like long-lost brothers, hugging and slapping them on the back.

  Clyde barked happily, jumping up and down.

  Smart dog.

  One of the soldiers, a green-faced shape in the darkness, stepped in front of Elizabeth and Cassie, shining a penlight on them. "Well, I'll be Goddamned—Cassie Rogan and Elizabeth Chambers," said someone with a strangely familiar voice with a maritime accent. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

  Cassie surged forward, ripped the penlight from his hand, and pointed its beam at his face. It took a moment for Elizabeth to realize who she was looking at through the camouflage paint, but when she did, a shudder of elation coursed through her.

  It was Alex Benoit.

  But… shouldn't he be in jail?

  Cassie squealed with joy and rushed into him, almost knocking him down.

  Elizabeth stared at the two of them wordlessly, her emotions surging out of control. I had been about to…

  When Alex finally pulled back, he looked sheepishly at Elizabeth. "Sorry, Elizabeth, I didn't mean to take the Lord's name in—"

  She launched herself at him, burying her face in his neck, hot tears rushing down her cheeks.

  PART IV

  MOBILE DEFENSE

  35

  The wyvern that had belonged to Faltoria Wind-Sworn resisted Horlastia's hand upon its reins for the entire flight back to her encamped army. In fact, all of the wyverns remained agitated by the death of her prized mount, and it had taken some minutes to force the terrified beasts to return for her, Astin, and Ulfir. The dragonling spread its wings as it landed within the wyvern enclosure. Faltoria and Helandia were dead, but their loss was acceptable now that Tlathia's corpse was tied behind Horlastia's saddle. What wasn't acceptable was the escape of the manlings with the Shatkur Orb.