Jason sucked in a breath. Bezzi-ibbi remembered the village. It had smelled terrible, a tanning village that processed furs from the surrounding hills. The people had been friendly and come out to look at the Battlewagon. They’d given Uluula and Mareen little gift bags of local, hand-picked berries.
Jason put a hand over his face. “I doubt this was a coincidence.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Gonzo. “But for what it is worth, this is Berber soil. Vitaliya and I were under orders before to hide some of our abilities, if we could. Due to the circumstances, we are no longer under these orders.”
“Wait, you were holding back before?” Mareen’s voice was dangerous. “What about the fight with Liangyu? We all almost died.”
“Yes, that was different,” Vitaliya smiled coldly, her eyes glittering. “First, I was legitimately worn out by the end of the fight. Second, the undead don’t feel pain. I am a fire mage. Gonzo is an orb-Bonded specializing in ice magic. We are not well-suited to fight things that can’t be truly damaged.”
Gonzo frowned, but Vitaliya shook her head at him. “The time for hiding is done, teacher. We must survive this to reach little Aodh. He must be all alone and frightened…” the woman’s voice slipped, and her serious mask broke for a moment before returning. Bezzi-ibbi’s whiskers twitched. Terrans are odd.
The Hispanic Berber spy nodded, “So be it, Vitaliya. If we stay to fight, I will tell you more of what I can do, Jason. But I suggest you decide immediately. They’ll probably be on us any moment.”
Jason thought for a moment. “Okay, we stay,” said the tall man, iron in his voice. “Some people might say we don’t owe those villagers anything, and it’s true from one perspective, but we’re all people. I have to live with myself. I couldn’t exist in my own skin anymore if I let things like the creatures I just fought come and eat helpless people when I could have done something about it. I hate bullies, even the kind with claws. Plus, if we ran, Henry would kick my ass.
“But I am not feeling good about this. You should have seen the things I killed.” Jason shuddered.
Uluula pointed and said, “My suggestion is to set up a quick defensive position on that high ground over there, but be ready to run at a moment’s notice.”
“Fine, let’s move,” said Jason. “We don’t have much time.”
Bezzi-ibbi happily loped over to the position Uluula had indicated. The coming battle would add material he could draw from for more Jaguar Troubadour songs. Of course, he would need to survive first, but that would always be true of any conflict.
Uluula hopped into the Battlewagon and drove it to the top of the small hill she’d indicated with rocky outcroppings they could use as cover. As the rest of them walked, Gonzo said, “I am third rank orb-Bonded. My orb is similar to yours, a modular type, and mine is second generation. I am a water mage. When I had swallowed my orb, ready to try anything to survive, I’d been dying of thirst.
“My choices for orb powers have varied. For the sake of this discussion, I will inform you that I am specialized in both water, and body magic. I am not an endurance mage, my focus is assassination and dueling. However, I have a great deal of magical power.”
They all reached the defensive position and Gonzo pointed. A massive wall of ice grew out of the ground, pushing dirt and rocks up to either side. Then the ice crumbled, turned to water, and seeped into the ground. Another wall of ice erupted from the soil, this time at an angle. The resulting shift and addition of more dirt began building a wall.
“Give me five minutes, and I will have a basic defensive structure for us to use,” said Gonzo. “Let’s get the Battlewagon behind it for something Vitaliya and I can stand in, and I promise you, we will give them hell. I have had to do some terrible things in my life. I am glad that this time, I can do what’s right.
“That village may never know that we made this stand, but we will.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s what matters,” said Jason, nodding.
Bezzi-ibbi had never really liked Gonzo very much. In that moment, though, he realized the spy might not be such a bad person. After all, most people had to do bad things to survive on Ludus at some point.
Now it was time for Bezzi-ibbi to admit to something.
The Jaguar Clan youth hissed, getting everyone’s attention. “I am special Hero,” he said without preamble. Then he switched to English so he could explain better. “I can adjust my Hero ability to reach out like a shadow instead of using a bubble. If the enemy has orb-Bonded, I can help. Just try to keep them in one area. If they move around too much, I will not be able to touch them without maybe affecting you.”
There was a moment of silence before Jason spun around, muttering, “Nobody ever tells me fucking anything. Leader of the group? Hah.” Then Jason pointed at Gonzo, “Let’s get that wall up. If we’re not going to run, these thing could be here any second.”
A shadow crossed Jason’s face and he added, “Pull out all the stops on this one. Trust me. You don’t want these things anywhere near you. I will be everyone’s eyes, well, me and Bezzi-ibbi. I think he might be able to sense invisible stuff, too. I will—”
“I also have infrared vision,” said Gonzo.
Jason gave him a flat look. “If we survive this, we are all going to have a long chat about what everyone can actually do these days. Count on it.”
The tall man cleared his throat and continued, “We are about to be fighting for our lives. Can we get some focus here? I’m assuming everyone agrees that we should be staying, not running, right?” The whole group gave their assent.
Bezzi-ibbi drew a sword from his quicksilver arm and grinned. He wondered if anyone else noticed how quiet Mareen had been acting. They all still had secrets, even Bezzi-ibbi. But at least he was not in the same position as Mareen.
Ludus was a world of secrets, even sometimes from friends. The aspiring Jaguar Troubadour wanted to be present when the larger group learned Mareen was a blood mage. Time would tell whether the song he wrote from that event would be a triumph or a tragedy.
As the members of Delvers LLC and the two spies quickly and efficiently prepared for battle, Bezzi-ibbi felt proud of his Clan brother and his friends. The entire group would soon be facing nightmarish monsters, protecting people who didn’t even know they were being protected, and nobody in the group even flinched. They just did what needed to be done.
Bezzi-ibbi had met battle-hardened warriors before, but nobody quite like this group. Delvers LLC could stand around calmly discussing an impending demon attack. When the first howls were audible, nobody in the group so much as twitched, and the Mo’hali youth wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
Bezzi-ibbi was nervous, but pride drowned it out to a dull murmur. If he died this day, he would journey to the hunting lands in good company.
Demonic Violence
Celina gritted her teeth in frustration as she watched her demonic forces engage the tiny, stubborn group in the distance. Just who were these people?
She’d been warned not to underestimate the Delvers by multiple people and even Dark Asag Himself. Unfortunately, one of them, the most unbearable, annoying one was standing right next to her. As they continued to observe the elevated clearing the Delvers had chosen to make their stand turn into a raging conflict of flashing energies, exploding demons, and burning magics, Yelm said, “Told you so.”
Celina hated the man, but she most hated that he’d been right. She couldn’t say a thing in response. Still, while Yelm was a fool, she would have been a greater fool not to heed the instruction of Dark Asag. Because of her obedience, luckily, the current situation was merely a setback.
It was frustrating that what should have been a simple elimination—orb-Bonded enemies or not—had turned into a fully-fledged battle. The Asag Triumphant were wasting their carefully grown force of demon soldiers like blood down a temple drain.
The situation would correct itself as soon as the backup forces arrived with one of their precious gates.
The helldoor would decisively end the battle. Celina didn’t want to waste it, but she wished to fail her dark god even less.
She shuddered, and wished she could lash out at the smug fool standing beside her. Unfortunately, they needed him alive. If she or her brethren killed Yelm, their tentative ally might send a smarter, exponentially more competent spy. That would be bad.
Celina watched the battle rage on, witnessing demon after demon be impaled, cut down, roasted, or blown apart and shook her head. Truly, who in the deepest hells were these people? They must have at least one truly powerful orb-Bonded among them to be decimating Asag’s foot demons like this.
But as always, the dark god would prevail. That realization was why Celina had become a priestess of Asag in the first place. Ludus was a difficult world, but joining the winning team had helped.
Being on the losing team was not a situation she ever want to experience again.
***
“I don’t think we are winning,” panted Uluula. The white-haired warrior knelt, loading a hand crossbow crafted for Areva use. She couldn’t remember anymore exactly where she’d acquired the weapon. All she could recall was that it had been an impulse purchase, albeit one she’d gotten a great deal on. She’d never really expected to use the complex, powerful little crossbow as a serious weapon, and yet here she was, activating the complex gears to cock the device.
“Well, rot, what gave you that rotting idea?” gasped Vitaliya, her voice dripping sarcasm. The red-haired woman popped up from the cover of the Battlewagon, which was in turn behind the earthen berm that Gonzo had created earlier. The Berber spy growled and unleashed a burst of flame before ducking down again.
All the vegetation in front of the Delvers’ position was ablaze, which luckily caused problems for the attacking demons and cultists. Unfortunately, it also created a lot of smoke, and the reduced visibility was making everything more difficult for both groups.
“What is stopping these things from going around us and flanking?” asked Mareen. The dusky-skinned woman stood, loosed an arrow, and ducked back down again. A moment later, multiple venomous, chitin barbs rattled off the Delvers’ earthen protection and flew through the empty air Mareen had just occupied.
Chuckers, so many of them, thought Uluula. There had been three main types of demons to attack so far. One had been humanoid, fast moving, clawed, rotting things that Jason called creeps. There were also bigger, powerful, slow moving demons that they’d begun calling bashers. Then there were the smaller, reptilian, venomous, ranged demons - chuckers.
So far, only a few more of the flying demons that had originally almost killed Jason had appeared. Both times one had shown up, either Jason or Gonzo had seen it, and they’d been dispatched.
While no enemy orb-Bonded or mages had actually shown themselves yet, they were definitely out there, launching various magical attacks at the entrenched Delvers. Some attacks were more powerful than others, and Gonzo occasionally had to repair the protective berm.
Gonzo himself was busy popping out from either side of the group’s protection from time to time, launching ice spikes at the larger demons. If a big enough group of creeper demons showed up, he created an ice spike in their path. Then Vitaliya would loose a jet of flame that caused the ice to explode into steam, scalding the disturbing creatures to death.
Large groups of demons were peppered by Jason’s throwing knives, and if more than one basher demon moved together, Jason took them out with one of his destructodisks. He also teleported around the battlefield, cutting down enemies with Breeze.
Jason was probably the main reason why the enemy orb-Bonded and mages were hiding thus far.
Uluula thought about Mareen’s question, and responded, “We probably are actually being flanked. The demons are not smart enough to flank or they’re too hard to control. That isn’t stopping the others, though. If they aren’t flanking us, they’re stupid or overconfident.”
“What do we do about it?” Mareen stood up again to shoot another arrow, and before ducking down again, a bellow sounded from one of the bashers. She’d had a good hit. The orb-Bonded woman looked glumly at her steadily emptying quiver. “I’m running low on arrows. We need Jason to restock us.”
“I do need more bolts, too.” Uluula took a deep breath and rose from cover, scanning the battlefield as fast as she could. It was a scene from a nightmare.
Night was quickly falling, the twilight fading as the stars began to come out overhead. Flashes of light in the sky accompanied some of the magic being used by either side. The demons had been whittled down, but many still hunkered down behind cover or crouched down, waiting for an opportune time to rush the Delvers.
Charred and broken bodies littered the ground everywhere. The first rush of demons had been thick and fierce, but so had the Delvers’ response. Since then, the attacks by new demons had been less numerous with more time between. Now Uluula thought she knew why. The various rushes were probably just a feint, a distraction to keep the Delvers in place.
The Areva woman took quick, but careful aim, and her bolt snapped a creeper’s head back, killing it. She ducked before the chuckers could hit her with the barbs from their tails. “We need another wave of fire out there. Some creepers are massing behind that rock formation they like to take cover behind. We also need a signal for Jason to come stock up our arrows again.”
“Choose one or the other,” growled Vitaliya. “I can’t do everything, Areva.” The Berber spy punctuated her statement by delivering a scything stream of fire across the battlefield before ducking down again. Her regular, systematic bursts of magical fire kept everything burning and prevented their position from being overrun. The fire was also helping with light to see by as night fell.
“Fine.” Uluula didn’t like how the spy had talked to her, but she couldn’t deny the other woman’s logic. Vitaliya was using her magic to kill enemies and keep them all alive. It didn’t make sense for her to also signal Jason on top of that. Uluula triggered her enchanted halberd to life, and waved the fiery faux-jaalba in the air. Then she turned the flame off to save power and waited.
Presently, Jason appeared, teleporting behind the Battlewagon. “Sorry it took me so long,” he apologized. “I’m still not sure if these evil bastards know about my teleporting weakness but I’m not taking any chances. I can teleport through the light smoke, but if it’s so heavy I can’t see through it, it’s a no-go.”
“We need more arrows and bolts, Jason,” explained Mareen, holding up her quiver. As Vitaliya burned the battlefield again to keep their enemies honest, Jason nodded and stepped forward, using his magic to create temporary copies of the group’s projectiles. Each copy would last about an hour—not long, but long enough for the fight.
“We think they might be flanking us, Husband,” said Uluula. After the words left her mouth, she inwardly winced a little. She didn’t always know how to preface important information. Especially in combat, it seemed prudent to just say what she meant. Sometimes others could find this rude or abrupt. Luckily, Jason just nodded. Her husband was sensitive, but luckily he was also very intelligent and used to Uluula’s quirks by now.
“I was thinking the same thing,” he said. “Bezzi-ibbi is in the rear, using his ability to check for any orb-Bonded that might make it behind us. Gonzo and I are basically watching the sides of our position and keeping an eye out for any more invisible demons, but we obviously can’t keep this up forever.”
Vitaliya rose and delivered two powerful jets of flame over the battlefield. She took cover and snarled back at the rest of them, “So nice you all can have a rotting party back there, but we are in a fight. In case you forgot, demons are trying to kill us on Berber soil. We absolutely must survive this.”
“Yes, you—” Mareen began, raising a hand, but Vitaliya cut her off.
“Poor little Aodh is out there, alone in this cruel, merciless world and—” Vitaliya stopped, shook her head, and sent a truly ferocious stream of fire out into the dis
tance. A couple of chuckers wailed, their distant keening as they burned alive was horrible but satisfying. With a harumph, Vitaliya knelt and glowered, not making eye contact with anyone else in the group.
Well, that was odd, thought Uluula. Vitaliya’s point had been a good one, though. Even though Uluula had recognized they were fighting a losing battle, the problem hadn’t seemed urgent to her since they were fighting from the back of a vehicle they could escape in. Plus, the enemies they’d killed so far had been relatively easily dispatched. Well, at least for Delvers LLC. The group really needed to come up with a serious plan, probably a serious escape plan. She had a feeling the enemy was waiting on reinforcements.
When a crimson glow erupted in the darkening sky past the battlefield, Uluula hated that she was usually right. She had a feeling that the enemy’s reinforcements had arrived.
“What in the hell?” breathed Jason.
As the glow grew brighter, the advancing demons drew back. The members of the group all looked at each other uncertainly behind their barricade.
Uluula heard pounding feet before she saw Gonzo and Bezzi-ibbi running up. Gonzo opened his mouth to talk, but before he could say anything, a disc of light rose in the distance. Two people stood on the distant platform, farther than any of their weapons could reach. Glittering motes of light surrounded the ascending light.
“Do not go, Jason,” Uluula warned. The bits of light made her feel nervous, and by now, the enemy had to be aware that Jason could teleport.
“Don’t worry, I learned my lesson fighting the zombies,” Jason muttered. “Teleportation is one of my powers, not my main tool anymore.”
Suddenly, a female spoke, her voice carrying across the entire battlefield. Uluula squinted, and could see that both people on the platform of light were Terrans. One, a woman, was pointing, and Uluula figured she was person speaking. “Delvers LLC, Henry and Jason, we met as enemies, but Grim Asag wishes me to relay you an offer.
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