by Joshua Roots
“Likely?”
“Makha’s smarter than the average Minotaur, so who knows?”
My heart thumped wildly and I sent up a prayer that, for once, we’d catch a break.
We worked our way to the end of the tight corridor, then Steve peered around the corner.
“Wow, we certainly shook the hornet’s nest,” he muttered.
Quinn and I knelt, poking our heads around as well.
Minotaurs filled the streets, covering each other as they gathered around an older warrior in brown-and-scarlet armor. He conferred with an aide, then turned to the dozen or so soldiers.
“Break into units of four,” he barked. “They’ll take to the shops and homes, so search those first. Do what you must to find them.”
The troops saluted with their weapons, then dispersed as the leader gathered his own guards and marched quickly down the street. We watched him depart, then the remaining fire team kicked open a nearby doorway and pushed inside. Seconds later, screams erupted from within.
Rage boiled in my chest. “Dammit, we’re endangering civilians.”
“War is hell on everyone,” Steve said.
I shook my head. “Risking our necks is one thing, but I refuse to have the blood of innocents on my hands.”
Quinn darkened. “Marcus, don’t do anything stupid. Pip will bring a rescue team. We just have to stay alive long enough for them to find us.”
Another cry pierced the Underground night, cutting deep into my heart. A Minotaur appeared, dragging a withered Dwarf with a long gray beard down the stairs and into the street. Two more followed, hauling an elderly female with fading red hair. She thrashed so violently that the third Minotaur had to help his compatriots restrain her.
The lead Minotaur bellowed something unintelligible. When the Dwarf responded, the interrogator backhanded him across the face. As the male collapsed to the stone, the woman kicked one of her attackers. The lead warrior spun, drawing his blade.
“Marcus,” Quinn hissed, but I was already on the move. Using a boost of Skill, I darted into the street, hurling myself at the group. The leader had no idea what was happening until I tackled him. He snarled as we went to the ground, but before he could recover, I gripped his horns and slammed his head on the stone street as hard as I could. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body went limp.
His teammates roared in surprise, turning their weapons on me. I saw a flash of steel, but before the nearest blade reached me, the female Dwarf rammed into one of the Minotaurs. He staggered sideways, righting himself, but the distraction offered me enough time to draw my Glock and pull the trigger. The hand-cannon boomed and the Minotaur dropped to a knee, blood leaking from his chest. I fired again, but he still wouldn’t go down. I pumped a third round into him, this time in his skull. His head snapped back and he collapsed.
I swung the Glock in the direction of the remaining attackers, but took my finger off the trigger immediately. Steve and Quinn had emerged from the alley and were putting the finishing touches on the enemy. One took the jeweled scimitar to her gut while the other never saw the massive hands that snapped his neck.
“More,” the female Dwarf shouted, pointing down the street. Minotaurs piled into the street from several alleys and came at us. Tapping into my Skill, I stood, drew my sword, then dragged the tip along the street. Sparks exploded as I gathered the power to me. Then I swept my blade in the direction of the attacking enemy. The stone responded, ripping from the ground in a wave of deadly projectiles. The Minotaurs tried to jump out of the way, but the stones filled the corridor. Bones cracked and bodies went limp.
“Holy hell,” Steve said as the missiles shattered into a million pieces on the far side of the fallen enemy. “When’d you learn to do that?”
I bent over, gasping for breath. “Been studying.”
The lady Dwarf wrapped me in her arms. She smelled of ale and spices. “Thank you, son.”
I hugged her back. “Anytime. Now please get this man someplace safe. A closet or cellar.”
“Hide?” she asked incredulously, pulling away. “After what they did to my Baludar? I think not. They’re going to get a taste of Dwarven iron.”
Quinn walked over to us. “Ma’am, it’s for your own safety.”
The Dwarf held her head high as the male began to stir. “Young lady, I was killing creatures far worse than Minotaurs before your parents were glimmers in their parents’ eyes. They may have caught Baludar and me unawares, but that won’t happen again. Isn’t that right, Baldy?”
The male rose to his feet with a groan. “Whatever you say, love.”
She humphed with satisfaction.
“Don’t bother trying to change her mind, guys,” Steve said. “Dwarves are as stubborn as bedrock.”
The old hag grinned.
I looked between them, then frowned. “Be careful.”
She patted me on the face. “Your concern is appreciated. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Baldy and I have a weapons locker that needs to be dusted off. Happy hunting.”
She grabbed her husband and dragged him back inside.
I watching them leave, my heart heavy. “They’re gonna die.”
“Maybe,” Steve replied. “But you’d be surprised how lethal Dwarves can be in a fight. Whether or not they last long, the fact remains that those are two more combatants for Makha’s people to worry about.”
“It’s not much.”
“It’s better than nothing.”
The dude had a point.
Shouts filled the streets and Steve’s ears twitched in their direction.
“A swarm is coming.”
I pulled myself upright. “Good. We need to keep their attention on us and not the civilians.”
He chuckled. “Pip was right. This is suicide.”
Quinn wiped her blade clean. “Then let’s prove him wrong.”
Steve looked down at her and nodded slowly. “Our best chance for survival is to lose them in the alleys.”
I hated the thought of traveling deeper into the maze, but we had no other options.
“Lead on, big guy.”
Chapter 19
Attacking in the Opposite Direction
“In her foolish haste to abandon and betray her father and people, her love for man had made her a monster...so she made retribution by returning to her homeland to make the monster human.”
—The Legend of Ariadne
Inch by agonizing inch, we weaved through the Nashville node of the Underground, avoiding troops as best we could. But the farther we traveled, the harder it was to avoid patrols. Worse, the noise of combat increased. It was a dull rumble at first, but as we neared the wide-open space of the main plaza area of the node, the sound grew to a crashing thunder.
The number of combat-ready enemies also increased dramatically. What started as fresh guards waiting for orders soon gave way to sweaty Minotaurs in bloody, dented armor. Squads of combatants ran by as units relieved one another at the front. Eventually, every street, every shop, every alley seemed to be filled with them. Only Steve’s knowledge of the cramped corridors kept us out of sight.
We hit the brakes in a side alley as Minotaurs dragged a wounded comrade to a Mystic. The healer bent over the warrior, murmuring as she pulled a waterskin from her satchel and poured a thick substance into a nasty gash in his leg. The bloody hole sizzled, and I blanched as my senses recoiled. My connection to the environment around them snapped like an old rubber band. All that was left in its place was emptiness.
“I feel it too,” Quinn said, grabbing my arm as I wobbled.
“The hell is that?” I asked.
Steve shook his head. “I don’t know. Our Mystics have always been private about their ways. All Mother—” He cleared his throat. “All she ever cared
about was results.”
Quinn patted him on the arm.
I tried to shrug off the feeling of emptiness, focusing instead on the elements that I could still communicate with. The solid stone beneath my feet, the chilly wind touching my face, the echo of Quinn’s voice on my ear. They centered me, grounded me.
Another injured soldier was dragged to the Mystic, who immediately began treating the newcomer. Once again, my senses were assailed by the hollowness. I grimaced, then my eyes went wide.
“Holy crap, it’s the Mystics.”
Quinn pressed against my back. “What?”
I pointed at the Minotaur working on the soldier. “The dampening power. It’s the same thing I felt at their homeland. Somehow the Minotaurs learned how to disconnect their part of the world from the surrounding environment. I wasn’t aware of the Mystics specifically when they treated others and me because all of my senses were offline. But now? They’re the ones doing it, which means the power is portable.”
She inhaled sharply. “No wonder the Council has had such a hard time pinpointing the Minotaurs.”
“And why the other paranormals have been so overmatched. It’s almost impossible to fight an enemy you can’t ‘see.’”
“You two can play detective once we’re safe,” Steve grumbled.
I motioned for him to keep leading the way.
Unfortunately for us, we were running out of options. Having reached the main front of the battle, Minotaurs occupied every square inch of their foothold. Bodies littered the streets while fresh units jogged from the rear toward the fray.
“We’re screwed,” Steve said, shoving us into a darkened alcove as another squad passed us. “No way around.”
I cursed.
“What about going up?” Quinn asked.
Steve and I followed her gaze to the roof above us.
“Why not use the rooftops to get above the fight and reach friendly lines?”
I shook my head. “How did we not think of that before?”
Quinn shoved a finger at me. “Because you are impatient and you—” she turned on Steve “—are bullheaded. Pun fully intended.”
Steve grinned. “You really do deserve so much better than this moron.”
“Jerk,” I mumbled, sliding my weapons back into their holsters.
“Up you go, pretty lady,” Steve purred, lifting Quinn and hurling her like a shot put at the balcony above. She tweaked her trajectory with her Skill, landing gently on the thick wooden planks.
“Maybe I’ll just climb,” I started to say, but Steve grabbed and heaved me upward as well. I flailed, banging my bad shoulder against the railing and tumbling over the edge onto the balcony. Quinn grabbed my arm and pulled me upright as Steve squatted, then leaped. Heavier and not Skilled, he still managed to grasp the bottom of the balcony and haul himself over the railing.
“You did that on purpose,” I grumbled, rubbing my sore shoulder.
“You might actually heal if you’d stop trying to destroy yourself,” he countered, smiling from ear to massive ear. Then he gripped Quinn and boosted her gently to the rooftop. He shoved me right on her heels, joining us on the flat concrete roof a moment later.
I froze. Ahead of us, a Minotaur archer fired his crossbow at someone below, then ducked behind the short wall, reloaded and fired again. As he notched another bolt, his ear twisted our direction. His eyes snapped to us and he swung his weapon.
Steve covered the distance between us in a blink. He gripped the front of the weapon and we heard the unmistakable twang as the weapon fired. The bolt punched through his hand, but the bloody shaft fell well short of me and Quinn. Undaunted, Steve jerked the crossbow away, then drove his fist into the archer’s snout. The enemy collapsed.
“Steve!” I raced to him as he dropped the weapon and took a knee, cradling his hand. I skidded to his side with Quinn kneeling beside me a second later.
“I’ve had worse,” he said, but the muscles in his jaw jumped and he tensed in pain. I turned his hand over and felt lunch flip at the sight of the damage. I placed my own palm over his, but Quinn grabbed my wrist.
“No offense, babe, but I’m better at this than you are.”
Seeing no point in arguing with the truth, I removed my hand and allowed her to cup the bloody wound in her palms. She closed her eyes, murmuring the words of the Healing Spell. Heat flared and Steve huffed. When she finally let go, the hole was closed, but the scab was large and angry.
“That will have to do for now,” she said, her face pale and sweaty. “I have to save some juice for combat.”
Steve put an enormous arm around her. She squeaked as he crushed her in a hug.
“Thank you,” he whispered, then released her.
Tears formed in her eyes and she smiled. “Anytime.”
A cry shattered the scene and I poked my head over the wall. Bile rose in my throat.
Below us, the battle raged like a hurricane. The courtyard, an enormous circle of squat buildings, was filled with death. The bodies of the fallen, Troll and Minotaur alike, littered the area, blood darkening the stone. Archers fired upon their enemy from high perches while the wicked swords of the melee combatants clashed with metallic fury. Maces slammed against shields, and pikes pierced flesh as warriors fought to gain another inch of bloody terrain.
“It’s a massacre,” Quinn whispered, color draining from her face.
Steve scowled. “The Trolls are excellent warriors, but they’re outmatched here.” He pointed to the rooftop on the far side. “The Minotaurs have gained the high ground. Without range superiority, our allies are fighting a losing battle.”
“Let’s see if we can give them a little help,” I said. “Come on.”
Keeping low, I raced to the edge of the rooftop, hurling myself off the edge in a mighty leap. Sailing over the Minotaurs in the alley below, I landed upright on the far side, skidding to a halt. A pair of archers never saw me as I delivered powered fists to the back of their skulls. Steve and Quinn were already vaulting to the next rooftop before my guys dropped unconscious to the ground. Before following, however, I scooped up a crossbow, aimed at the nearest group of Minotaurs, and pulled the trigger.
Unlike a handgun, which wasn’t too accurate past a dozen meters, the bolt slammed into the leg of a fighter who collapsed, snarling, to the ground. Not wanting to risk giving my position away, and desperate to save Glock ammo, I scooped up the small quiver of bolts and ran after my friends.
Slowly we leapfrogged our way around the perimeter of the courtyard, dropping archers as we moved. Occasionally I’d take a potshot at the enemy below, but my luck with the first bolt didn’t hold out and I missed more often than I would have liked. Apparently it took some training to get good with the stupid medieval weapon.
Eventually we reached the far end of the courtyard. Dropping a single archer, we moved to peer over the edge of the roof. The alley was clear, so Steve lowered us down, drastically shortening the distance between us and the ground. Quinn and I landed, then moved out of the way for Steve to come crashing down. He landed like a meteor, cracking the stone at his feet.
“This way.”
We trotted down the alley, around a corner, and into a dozen bloody sword tips.
My hand tightened on the crossbow, but it loosened when I saw the large yellow tusks protruding from lower lips of the Trolls. They growled menacingly, their eyes trained on Steve.
“We’re the good guys,” I said in a calm voice.
The Troll king pushed between his soldiers and grinned down at me. “Well, well, well. It appears we don’t need to send our little rescue party after all. Lower your weapons, everyone.”
His troops responded, although a number kept their eyes on my Minotaur buddy.
“You’re the human from the clan meeting at your Council ch
ambers. The one who escaped the Minotaur coup.”
“I am.” I held out my free hand. “Marcus Shifter.”
“Gol’dath.” His grip was cold and sweaty.
“You survived,” Pip shouted, appearing out of nowhere and racing to hug my legs at warp speed.
I bent over to pat him on the head. “As did you.”
He looked up. “Please, those lumbering idiots didn’t stand a chance catching me.”
The king cleared his throat, interrupting our reunion. “The imp tells me you all come from the Bookworm camp. And that you were sneaking through enemy lines.”
“Not sure how much ‘sneaking’ we did.” I actually made the air quotes because everyone does it. “But yeah, we came in through the back door of their forces.”
“My reconnaissance scouts weren’t as fortunate. I’d greatly appreciate any intelligence you can provide.”
“I can’t begin to guess numbers, but there are a lot of Minotaurs, all of whom are heavily armed. They’ve established a rear guard and are rotating troops here to the front.”
A cry from the battle in the courtyard cut through the cold night. The king glanced in its direction, then whistled softly. “You’re either very brave or exceptionally stupid.”
“A little of both,” Steve answered for me.
“You,” Gol’dath snarled, “are unwelcome here. I’ve lost many comrades to your kind today.”
“At the moment, my kind is under the command of a murderous traitor, so you can stuff that attitude.”
The king’s lip curled as he bared his tusks.
I stepped between them. “Easy. He’s on our side.”
The Troll sneered. “I’ll bury many honorable warriors who would disagree.”
The clashes of steel grew louder. I flinched as the violence of combat neared us. It was time to beat feet.
I straightened my back and used my best Council voice. “King Gol’dath, your warriors have done an impressive job holding the line. As far as I know, no other unit has made a dent in the Minotaur attack.”
