Through the chaos, Allyn only had eyes for one man—Sedric. The Knight Commander organized the counterattack and ordered his remaining men back inside the manor, where they could use the home’s architecture to their advantage. But the magi had foreseen that possibility and had strategically placed the inferno mines near the doors so that their detonations would cause enough damage to block re-entry.
Magi attacks cut down the first two Knights who tried to force their way back inside, and as the third moved to try again, Sedric issued new orders. The two enemy clusters merged, reforming their original squad’s larger contingent, and backed their way off the patio toward one end of the manor.
“Canary, how many Knights entered the manor?”
“At least twenty,” she said.
“Then that wasn’t all of them.” Allyn turned to Ren. “There’s still a squad and a half inside. Can you handle that?”
“Of course.”
“They’ll have you outnumbered.”
She waved away the words as if they were nothing more than an annoying fly. “We have superior firepower.”
Allyn wasn’t sure he agreed, but he did have full confidence in Ren’s abilities—both as a leader and a fighter. If she thought she could handle the remaining Knights, then he wasn’t going to argue with her.
“Make it happen then,” Allyn said. “The rest of you, with me.”
Allyn left Ren and her sub squad behind, moving in the direction Sedric had fled. Behind him on the patio, he heard the muffled sounds of ice blasts finishing the wounded. They would take no prisoners. Today, the magi were making a statement.
As Allyn cautiously rounded the corner of the manor, he heard the first BearCat fire up. He froze, his gaze going to Myanna.
“They’re retreating,” she said.
“Come on!”
Allyn broke into a run, pushing for the corner of the manor. When they arrived, Allyn slowed and, using the edge of the manor as cover, peered around its edge. A burst of gunfire erupted immediately, and Allyn pulled back behind the corner as bullets tore into the home’s exterior. Chips of brick and splinters of wood flew into the air, peppering Allyn’s face.
“Nolan,” Allyn said. He motioned toward the direction of the Knights then backed away from the edge of the manor to give his fellow machinist space to operate.
Nolan took Allyn’s spot and wielded an energy blast. He shot a glance around the corner once, twice, then after two sharp breaths, he hurled the blast toward the BearCat. Myanna stepped out from behind him a fraction of a second later and propelled the blast forward with a concussion of air.
As soon as the blast detonated, Allyn sped forward, already wielding. He kept his head as low as possible, expecting bullets to hiss past his ears at any moment. But the Knights were already in the BearCats.
“Myanna, Nolan!” Allyn shouted. “Again!”
Nolan launched another energy blast, and Myanna sent a fireball directly behind it. The first energy blast struck the side of the BearCat, rocking it onto two wheels and allowing the fireball to strike its undercarriage. When the BearCat didn’t ignite as the one at the Freidl Manor had, they tried a second time but without any more success. Instead, the remaining BearCats rumbled to life and screamed away from the manor.
The driveway was blocked, however, by a pair of full-size black SUVs. Fireballs and ice blasts shot from magi inside the SUVs exploded against the front of the BearCats, but Allyn watched in horror as the larger tactical vehicles raced toward the SUVs without sign of slowing.
Magi dove out, rolling to safety only split seconds before the BearCats tore through the SUVs like football players through a banner at a homecoming game. As the magi vehicles tumbled out of the way, the BearCats disappeared down the driveway.
That’s when Allyn heard the shouts and curses behind him. He turned, spotting a squad of Knights remaining upstairs. Sedric had left them behind. Allyn readied an attack, half expecting gunfire to rain down from their tactically advantageous position. Before they could, though, a second force entered the room behind them.
Ren. Allyn watched as the magi quickly cut down the Knights. The threat neutralized, Allyn turned back to the driveway, not yet ready to accept only a partial victory.
“Stay with me!” Allyn broke into a sprint, racing down the driveway after the BearCats. “Canary! Have an SUV waiting for us at the end of the driveway!”
“On it!” Canary shouted back.
The run took longer than Allyn expected, and by the time he and the squad made it to the end of the driveway, he was out of breath. Fortunately, Canary’s message had found its recipient, and another black SUV was waiting for them.
“Inside!” Allyn shouted, jumping in behind the wheel. His squad piled inside the vehicle. “Which way?”
Canary closed her eyes again as she focused on the various radio waves. If Sedric or any of the Knights were attempting to communicate with someone, Canary would be able to pick it up and triangulate their position.
“That way!” Canary pointed in the direction the SUV was already facing.
Allyn punched the gas, and the one-ton SUV roared forward. “Stay on them. If they deviate from their course, I need to know.”
Canary closed her eyes again, though Allyn doubted Sedric would change course. The narrow, two-lane road wound through the Austrian countryside with little interruption. Allyn continued on his original course, moving at an uncomfortable one hundred twenty kilometers an hour.
They drove for several minutes before the BearCats came into view. Driving in a diamond formation, the Knights’ vehicles took up the entire road, kicking up dust from both shoulders.
“Nolan,” Allyn commanded, flooring the SUV. “Go for the tires.”
“On it!” Nolan rolled down the right-rear window, and a roar of wind drowned out all other sound. He leaned out the window, wielding a small energy blast as Allyn pulled the SUV up beside the BearCat at the rear of the formation. Nolan hurled the energy at the BearCat’s left-rear tire. The energy blast struck the tire, and with a loud pop, the oversized off-road tire exploded.
The BearCat swerved. The driver counter-steered into the blast but overcompensated and lost control. Suddenly, the BearCat was skidding and tumbling down the country lane with a shriek of metal on asphalt.
Allyn yanked the steering wheel left, narrowly avoiding the tumbling vehicle, and nearly lost control himself. By the time he regained control, the smoking wreckage of the tactical vehicle was far behind.
Ahead, the remaining BearCats adjusted formation. The two making up the left and right points of the diamond formation sped up, blocking the entire road.
“Nolan!” Allyn shouted. “See what you can do!”
But before the machinist could wield, the middle BearCat’s rear hatch fell open. The steel ramp landed on the asphalt with a bang, shooting sparks into the night as it skidded across the blacktop. A handful of armed Knights waited inside, and at their center was Sedric, holding a full-size assault rifle trained in their direction.
Allyn cursed, slamming on the brakes as the Knight Commander opened fire. Tires squealed, and Allyn watched as a single projectile was launched from a second barrel mounted under the first on Sedric’s weapon. The projectile hit the road under the front of the SUV, and the next thing Allyn knew, the front of their SUV was thrown high into the air, accompanied by a momentary, nauseous feeling of weightlessness.
The front of the SUV landed with a jaw-rattling thud, and the vehicle was pitched sideways into a roll. Down became up, and up became down as the world spun.
Metal shrieked. Glass shattered. Wind roared. People screamed. And then it was over.
Allyn blinked, struggling to reorient himself. He was upside down, somehow still facing the Knights’ BearCats. Blood rushed to his head, filling his ears with p
ressure, and more dripped onto the top—now the bottom—of the cab. Behind him, he heard others moaning, stirring.
“Everyone all right?” he asked, his pained voice barely audible over the ringing in his ears.
“I’m good,” Nolan said.
“Me too,” Myanna said.
One by one they checked in, and in the end, three of his squad were injured or unconscious—a remarkably small number, given their speed when they had crashed.
“Oh shit,” Nolan said, suddenly alarmed. “Allyn!”
The BearCats had stopped, and the Knights streamed out of the central vehicle, guns already raised.
“Everyone out!” Allyn undid his seatbelt and fell to the roof of the cab. He tried opening his door, found it jammed, and had to kick it open with both feet. Crawling out, he used the door for cover. Behind him, his squad emerged. Seven in all, bloodied from the crash and wielding, they must have looked like a frightful sight, though Sedric appeared unfazed.
The Knights stopped halfway between their BearCat and the wrecked SUV, their guns trained on the magi. Sedric separated himself from the rest by a couple steps and watched Allyn with a wry smile.
“Allyn, Allyn, Allyn,” he said in his mocking Southern drawl. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you? You won today, and now you risk everything because you just can’t help yourself. ‘The greedy bring ruin to their households,’ Allyn. And you are very, very greedy.”
Allyn watched the Knight Commander, unsure how to respond. From the perpetual scowl to the sarcastic humor, Sedric had the look and feel of someone who had been career military. His salt-and-pepper hair was cut short, and his weathered face was sharp and angular, as if his features alone could hurt someone.
“What gave us away?” Sedric asked. “How did you know where we would be?”
Allyn locked his jaw. He wasn’t about to give the other man information that he could use against them.
“Come on, Allyn, we did this last time. And I grow tired of talking to myself.”
“What do you want to hear?” Allyn finally asked. “That we have a mole in your outfit? That you made a mistake? That you left behind vital information when you retreated from the catacombs? There’s no one answer, Sedric. There are many.”
Sedric laughed—he actually laughed. “Truthful lips endure forever, Allyn, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I know you’re lying, Allyn. And the Lord hates a lying tongue.”
“What does he say about the hands that shed innocent blood?”
Sedric raised an eyebrow. “Very good, Allyn. Proverbs. I’m impressed. Of course, we’ve already covered this—you and your kind are not innocent, nor are they righteous, so let’s not dwell on your sudden and suspicious Christian awakening and get right down to the heart of it. Tell your men to stop wielding, and I’ll let you live.”
It was Allyn’s turn to laugh. Not that he felt like it—he just needed to stall Sedric while he put together a plan.
“Let us live?” Allyn repeated. “There are ten of us here and only eight of you. Why would we surrender when we have you outnumbered?”
“There are seven of you,” Sedric corrected. “And even then, we have the greater firepower.”
“You sure about that?”
Sedric held up his gun for all to see. “Do you see this? This is an M4A1 Carbine. It’s capable of shooting up to nine hundred rounds per minute, and all of my men are equipped with one. Eight people at nine hundred rounds per minute—that’s seventy-two hundred rounds fired in your direction in the next sixty seconds. So, tell me again, Allyn, how exactly do you have us outnumbered? How do you have the greater firepower?”
Allyn’s mouth went dry.
“That’s what I thought,” Sedric said. “Don’t get greedy for a second time, Allyn. Tell your squad to stop wielding, or I’ll have my men open fire and we’ll end this right here and now.”
Allyn turned, spotting Myanna. She shook her head and showed him the volatile inferno mine glowing in her hand. She won’t let herself be taken hostage.
Allyn found Nolan next, and he too shook his head, his own magi creation shimmering in his hands. Then Nyla and Canary did the same. They were unanimous in their decision. Allyn nodded and was about to turn back to Sedric when something caught his eye—three pairs of headlights were quickly growing on the horizon.
SUVs, Allyn realized. Reinforcements.
He turned back to Sedric, his confidence and swagger returning. Sedric had spotted the incoming vehicles too, and his face twisted with surprise and irritation.
“Like I said, we have you outnumbered,” Allyn said. “Myanna, now!”
Myanna hurled her magical creation at the Knights while Allyn and the rest ducked behind the protection of the SUV. The volatile concoction of fire and air encased in ice cracked open, and living flame lashed out angrily, blowing the Knights back. They crashed against the BearCats while others dove for cover and were buffeted by the incredible heat.
For a brief moment, nothing else happened, and Allyn thought Myanna had killed the entire Knight force, but the barrage of gunfire told him how very wrong he had been.
Bullets slammed into the reinforced steel of the SUV, bouncing off the bulletproof shell with a series of thuds and sparks. Allyn wielded, preparing to lead the counterattack, but realized Sedric wasn’t attacking—he was retreating.
The Knights who could walk staggered backward with him, some making half-hearted attempts to save the injured, and leaving those who were obviously dead behind.
Myanna launched another volley of fireballs. The rest of the magi followed her lead, but the Knights had retreated to the safety of the BearCat. Fireballs and ice blasts crashed against the hatch as it closed.
Allyn slid away from the protection of the SUV and watched as the BearCats rumbled away. Behind him, the other magi SUVs skidded to a stop. Magi streamed from them, ready for battle. Jaxon was among them, and he quickly found Allyn.
“Was that him?” Jaxon asked.
Allyn nodded. “We almost had him, Jaxon. We almost ended the war.”
He and Jaxon watched as the BearCats disappeared on the horizon.
Chapter 11
The magi didn’t return to the Klausner Manor until the Schuster Manor had been cleared of the fallen, the fires put out, and entrances and windows boarded up. Even in victory, there was defeat. The McCollum forces had repelled the Knights’ attack but had lost six of their number in doing so, and the damage to the manor would take months to repair.
Allyn found strange solace in the fact that, as they had so many times before, the dead came from outside the McCollum Family. The comfort wasn’t without guilt, but knowing his friends were safe was the only thing keeping him from completely breaking down.
The long drive back to the Klausner Manor provided Allyn with an opportunity to sit in silence. For the first time in nearly a full day, he didn’t have to lead. Didn’t have to analyze, command, or make life-and-death decisions. He should have been ecstatic that the battle had gone so well, but as it had after many of the previous battles, his mood took a dark turn.
Upon returning to the manor, he ordered the injured inside and quickly retreated to the quiet comfort of his room. His mood hadn’t improved by the next afternoon, either, when he and the rest of the War Council deconstructed the battle. They didn’t expect the Knights to continue with their same strategy, not after the magi had routed their forces, but the council could still glean details that might help in future conflicts. Besides, improvement was the result of honest reflection. The council could determine where they had made mistakes, not only where the Knights had erred.
The task left Allyn with a sour taste in his mouth, which was made worse by the council’s buzz of excitement.
He wanted to scream. Six more magi were dead, and the magi leaders were smiling and quick to laugh. It all felt so wrong.
When the session ended, Allyn returned to his room and collapsed onto his bed. He was emotionally and physically exhausted, but the hard, dreamless sleep was cut short when he woke to the manor alive with activity. Music echoed through the walls, dancing footsteps bounced through the floors, and laughter lit even the darkest corners of the manor.
They’re celebrating!
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not trusting his ears, Allyn left his room and followed the sounds of revelry. He froze on the first-floor landing. He’d never seen anything like the scene before him.
The magi had turned in their compression armor for traditional cuts of whites, reds, yellows, and blues that flowed when they danced. They lounged in chairs or huddled in corners out of the way, always watching, smiling, laughing, and engaged in their own lively conversations. It felt like a dream. It had to be a dream. In the months he’d lived among the magi, they had always been reserved. Never this. Never free-spirited or able to let loose.
Various magi spotted him and immediately looked away, their smiles and laughter dying on their lips. Some even went so far as to leave the room entirely. He looked down, realizing he still wore his compression armor.
It’s bringing them down, he realized. Reminding them of their loss.
Suddenly self-conscious, Allyn was about to return to his room when he spotted Kendyl approaching. She wore a gentle smile, her cheeks flushed with intoxication, and carried two wine glasses—one full, the other half empty.
“You decided to join us,” she said over the commotion. Her words were warm and slightly slurred.
“I must have missed the invite,” Allyn said sarcastically.
“Sad. Here, accept this as our apology.” Kendyl held the glass of wine in front of him.
Capture (The Machinists Book 4) Page 9
