“We’re going to chat for a moment,” Darian said in a low voice.
The man nodded as his fingers twitched.
“Sara, see if you can do something with his hands. I don’t care to be caught up in a spell when I release his throat.”
Sara created a small dagger in her hand and cut the sleeve from their new friend’s shirt. She pulled his arms behind his back and tied his hands together, surprised that he didn’t fight against her.
Darian pushed him back onto the log and loomed over the cultist, forcing the man to look up at him.
“You’re the Watcher,” the man said, his nasal voice shaking.
“What gave it away?” Darian asked.
“That means she’s the Sentinel?” His eyes widened as he looked at her. “You did that to my boys?”
Sara remained silent. She wasn’t sure if she could speak without her voice shaking as badly as their prisoner. Darian had no such issue, the harsh side of his personality taking over efficiently.
“Where are you taking the men inside the cave?” Darian asked, drawing the man’s attention.
“I can’t tell you,” he replied. “The Overlord will kill me if I do.”
“I don’t intend to let you leave here, so the Overlord will never know.”
Darian wiped the blood from his dagger on the prisoner’s leg. Sara shivered at the calloused gesture.
“He’s amassing an army north of here,” the man said as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I’m not sure where. The driver will know, but I don’t.”
“Why are your prisoners still alive and not used to summon a demon army?”
“I don’t know. The master just said to bring them alive. We don’t question him; we just do as he commands.”
Darian looked at Sara. What do you feel from him? Will he run back to Zar’Asur if we let him go?
I can’t tell. He’s terrified of his master. It might be enough to retain his loyalty.
She saw Darian’s shoulders slump ever so slightly. He didn’t want to kill this man. All that bravado was just an act, wasn’t it?
“Come on,” Darian said to the Csökkent. “You’re going to help us get these men out of here before the truck shows up.”
“I can’t! If they see the others are dead, but I’m not, they’ll know I helped you!” his panicked voice rose with each word.
“Or they’ll assume I’ve taken you prisoner and tortured you to death.”
The man shook his head, and Sara felt his fear and anxiety. He wanted to get away from the Csökkent, but he knew in his heart he couldn’t escape them.
As Darian marched the lone Csökkent back to the cave, she couldn’t help but wonder how many more of the cultists felt the same way.
Chapter 45
Darian
Darian arrived back at the camp hours later with twenty men and one prisoner. Sara drove the ATV beside them. He gagged the cultist and kept his hands tied behind his back. Sara seemed sure of the man’s desire to leave the Csökkent, but Darian wouldn’t trust him.
The freed men were led to the mess hall while Darian escorted their prisoner to a holding cell. He followed Captain Mills down a narrow hallway in one of the concrete buildings. They stopped in front of a metal door with a small window.
“Do you have handcuffs?” Darian asked.
“We do,” Mills answered. “But he shouldn’t need them in the cell.
“He is not a normal prisoner, Captain. If you leave his hands free, he will kill your men.” Darian replied.
The Csökkent mumbled beneath his gag, and Darian jabbed him in the spine with his elbow. The man groaned and fell to his knees.
“What are you talking about, Mr. Schmidt?” the captain asked.
Darian held out his hand and summoned a flame. “This man is human, but also much more than that. One of their signature spells is to summon a bolt of lightning strong enough to sizzle your skin and cook your flesh.”
“And what does that make you?” The captain took a step back and reached for the weapon at his side. His eyes jumped from Darian’s face to the flame in his hand.
“His enemy and your ally.”
“And what about her?” He pointed at Sara but didn’t look away from the fire dancing in Darian’s hand. “What can she do?”
“The Csökkent already know most of my abilities, but they know none of hers. I’d prefer to keep it that way. She can give you a demonstration later.”
“So, what do we do with the prisoner?”
“You have two choices. Keep him gagged or keep his hands cuffed behind his back,” Darian replied. “If he cannot speak, then he can’t cast a spell. The lightning is generated from his fingertips, so as long as they’re behind him, there is more risk to his ass than anyone else.”
Sara chuckled, and Captain Mills looked at her.
“Sorry!” she said quickly. “I had a visual of him shooting himself in the ass with a bolt of lightning. It was kind of funny.”
“I’ll be right back,” Mills said as he turned back down the hall.
Darian shook his head and smiled.
“What? Tell me that wouldn’t be funny.”
“Whatever you say, my lady.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
After securing the Csökkent, they met up with the rest of the group in the dining hall. The recently freed men mingled with the soldiers. Apparently, some of them knew each other or their families. Silence fell over the hall as the captain stood on a chair in the front of the room.
“Alright, everyone settle down,” the captain yelled. “I want a debrief of what happened. One person at a time.”
An older man with dark hair, graying at the temples, stood from his place in the middle of the room.
“My name’s Jack,” he began. “Those men showed up in town with fifty, what are they, demons, monsters? Anyway, they told us our families would be spared if we joined their army.” He took a deep, ragged breath. “We told ‘em to piss up a rope. We were armed with rifles and shotguns. We thought we could protect our own.” His chest heaved several times before he gained control of himself. “Half the town was killed before we surrendered. As far as we know, our families are still safe. But they left some of those creatures behind as a promise if we disobeyed.”
“Which is why we have to meet that truck, Jack.” Another man across the room rose to his feet. “I have a wife and four kids sitting in fear of these things. How can I stand by and let them be killed?”
“I agree with Mike.”
Another man rose, then several more.
“We can’t let them hold our families hostage!” Jack yelled above the crowd. “Do you want them to live in fear of those things forever? You want those creatures going to school with your kids?”
The argument subsided, and Darian waited for the captain to take over. He didn’t. Mills stood there with a shocked look on his face. Sara poked Darian in the ribs and pushed him forward. He didn’t want to take control of this meeting, but did he really have a choice?
“Do any of you know what they planned to do with you when you arrived at your final destination?” Darian asked.
Several men shook their heads, but no one answered.
“There will be two options if the demons are looking for an army. I’m not certain which would be worse.” Darian rose and naturally towered over everyone around him. “My first expectation was they would use all of you as sacrifices to summon more demons. But we found you alive in that cave, so it makes me wonder. They’ve already decimated most of the human population. The only way to summon more demons is through human sacrifice.” He started pacing in the small space between the long tables, following his logic as he went. “If they kill off the whole of humanity, they will have no fuel for their fire. Which leads me to the second option, they will force you to fight in their army. They’ll allow you to have families, so you can reproduce enough to fuel their demons.”
“That’s absurd!” Mike, the man with four children, yelled. “And what do yo
u know about these demons? Did you help bring them here?”
“I wish I knew nothing,” Darian responded with a low growl. “I wish I were in your place, with a wife and a pile of kids. I’ve been fighting against these things for too long, but I will not throw away the years of my life I’ve spent battling this evil. If you give in to them now, you will become nothing more than cattle to be bred and consumed.”
Darian’s heart raced with his anger. He should let the silly human run back to the demons.
“Then, we fight back,” Captain Mills said, having finally roused himself from the shock of the men’s stories. “We already have a plan in motion to draw the demons into a trap. Are you all from Hartville?”
“Yeah,” Jack replied.
“I thought we already got everyone from Hartville?” Captain Mills didn’t wait for a reply. “Alright, it isn’t that far by truck,” he stated. “Getting your families here will only help our plan.”
“But what about the demons?” another voice called out among the crowd.
“We’ll take care of that,” David replied, drawing the attention of those in the room. “We’ll need soldiers to protect the trucks, but my people will take care of the demons.”
Darian hadn’t seen David in the crowd but was grateful for his presence. They would need the warriors’ help to get those people out.
“Alright, let’s get moving. We’ve only got a few hours before sundown. I’d rather not do this in the dark,” Captain Mills barked.
Darian felt Sara’s gaze on him, and he turned towards her as men brushed by him to leave the dining hall. He couldn’t read her expression and as much as he wanted to know her thoughts, he didn’t delve into her mind. She’d left his alone, and he wouldn’t be the one to break that trust. Her dark eyes stared into his. He could barely tell where her pupil stopped and the iris began.
“What are you thinking?” he asked her.
She blinked several times. “Nothing. And everything.”
~~~~~~~~~
The Council’s group rode in an old two-and-a-half-ton truck, which the captain called a duce-and-half. A heavy canvas covered the back of the truck and smelled like mold and dirt, making the air inside difficult to breathe. Three identical trucks followed behind them, one full of soldiers from the camp and the last two empty. Two smaller Humvees trailed them with fifty caliber machine guns mounted to the back.
The captain had argued to bring more trucks, but Darian assured him the Council’s truck would be available for the rescued families. The warriors could make it back on their own.
“I believe they’ve hit every single pothole in the road,” Sara complained.
“I think it’s more likely the trucks have no suspension,” David replied. “Lucky for us, we don’t have to ride back.”
“I need more padding on my butt for this,” Sara mumbled as she sat on her hands.
Several chuckles rumbled around the back of the truck, and Sara glared at them.
The truck slowed to a stop, and the warriors started jumping out the back. The soldiers had agreed to drop them off just outside of town, and Captain Mills had instructions to wait fifteen minutes before following them in. Darian only hoped it was enough time to pull the demons into combat.
When the last of them jumped off the tailgate, Darian closed his eyes and pushed his mindsight towards the small town. The outline of empty streets filled his mind. He cursed and turned his sight into the only convenience store. Two humans stood in the front of the store near the cash register and a demon hovered near the exit. He found similar situations in at the hardware store and small diner.
“The demons are spread out all over town,” Darian said with disgust. “We need to come up with a plan to draw them out.”
“Or you could sneak in and kill them one at a time,” David suggested.
“If I had a few more scouts, that might work,” Darian replied. “It will take a while if I’m doing this by myself.”
“I’ll go tell the captain to hold off,” David said. “If we just run in there, they’ll start killing people.”
Darian knew it was the only plan with the least amount of risk, but he didn’t like it. Several of the storefronts faced each other. If even one of the demons noticed him killing them off, the plan would be out the window.
“Alright, I’m going to start on the south side of town,” Darian said. “Luckily, there is only one main street and a couple side streets with businesses. I’ll follow the main road to the last establishment, then make my way around the block. I’ll also be sure to tell the people to wait until the Captain sends in his trucks.”
“And if you’re caught?” David asked.
“I’ll make a scene you won’t be able to miss,” Darian replied, shaking his head. “I was really hoping the demons would be congregated in one place.”
“I’ll pass the word on to the others,” David said. “Be careful.”
Sara caught his arm before he disappeared, and he groaned. He knew she’d want to come, but towing her along would slow him down.
“You thought you would go without me?” she asked.
“It will be quicker without you,” he replied, pulling his concealment around them both.
“Not if I can stay within your concealment and we cover both sides of the street at the same time,” she countered.
“That will only work if the demon is outside,” he grumbled.
“You think a sheet of glass will stop my daggers?”
Darian growled at her, and she smiled. He shook his head, knowing she could not see him. Why did she find that so amusing?
“Would you two get moving already?” David asked as he walked back to the truck.
Darian grabbed her hand and teleported to the edge of town.
I know what you’re thinking, Sara, and it’s a bad idea.
No, it’s the perfect solution.
You cannot keep doing this. You don’t know how it will affect your mind.
You can help me do this, or I’ll walk out there on my own.
Darian took a deep breath and let it out again. Damn stubborn woman.
Grab my belt, and do not let go. I need both hands.
He placed her hand on his waist and felt her wrap her fingers through his belt. They crept along the sidewalk, the occasional loose stone skittering across the ground as the only sign of their presence. Darian passed by several buildings with the windows boarded and closed signs hanging in the door. Some of them looked like they’d been closed for months, not just a result of recent events.
They reached the convenience store, and he cursed quietly. They wouldn’t be able to enter unless someone else opened the door.
I told you it was the perfect solution.
He cringed, knowing and hating she was right. He’d become her escort while she took out the threat. She raised one hand, and he felt her grip tighten at his waist.
Well, shit. Give me a second. I’ll have to go under the door.
Twenty seconds later, the demon collapsed. The woman at the register jumped and covered her mouth. Her eyes searched the store, then went back to the demon on the floor.
Should we go in and talk to her? Sara asked.
No, let’s keep moving.
He pulled Sara to the next intersection and stood in front of the only diner in town. He peered in the dusty window to see a lone waitress standing at the counter, wiping the old wood with a towel. A demon hovered in the back corner, watching the door.
Darian stood still for several moments before the demon collapsed. The startled waitress leaned over the counter and looked at the demon’s body. She ran around the corner and stopped a few feet from it. Darian saw her moving her mouth through the window and suspected she was yelling at the dead body.
She’s coming out the door, Darian. We need to stop her from warning everyone else.
He couldn’t agree more. He and Sara moved to the door just as it opened. Darian wrapped his hand over the woman’s mouth and pushed her back in
side. Sara let go of his belt as he carried the woman to a dark corner away from the door. She bit his hand and kicked at his shins, but he held on.
“I think it’s safe to let her go now,” Sara said.
The woman stopped moving at the sound of Sara’s voice, even though she was still invisible.
“Will you stop fighting against me?” Darian asked, dropping his concealment and revealing him and his Sentinel. “We’re here to kill the demons and take all of you to safety.”
Her eyes widened and she nodded. He released her and she stumbled back away from him.
“Is it really dead?” she asked.
“Yes. Can you tell us where the others are?” Darian asked.
“There’s another one in the post office and convenience store down the street,” she replied, her voice shaking. “The rest are at the fire hall.” Her eyes narrowed, and she clenched her teeth. “They make us take the kids to the fire hall every morning for roll call to make sure no one left during the night.”
A wave of anger rushed towards him from his Sentinel. He reached out and pulled Sara back just as she started to walk away.
“Not yet. We need more information before we storm the place.”
Her dark eyes glared at him, but she nodded.
“How many demons are there?” he asked.
“Eight or nine, along with two of those slimy bastards,” the waitress replied.
“The cultists,” Sara stated.
“Sounds like it.” Darian turned back to the woman. “What’s your name?”
“Millie.”
“Millie, we need you to stay put. We don’t want the demons to know we’re here. If they catch wind of our presence...”
“I know. They’ll kill everyone.” Millie sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Our little town was already too small. Those monsters killed half of us and took all the men who were left.”
“We hope to change that,” Darian replied. “Stay put until you see the trucks coming into town from Camp Guernsey.”
“We should’ve gone with them the first time,” she mumbled.
Sentinel's Rise: Book 1 - The Watcher and the Sentinel Series Page 29
