“I should’ve brought them here first, so they knew where we were,” Eva stated, regret lining her face.
“Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.” Mikel turned to Adalina. “Tell me you already have preparations in the works.”
“You know I do,” she replied. “Just because Mr. Moore is uncooperative doesn’t mean they all are.”
“Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Adalina took him to a recently tilled field on the north side of the base. Military housing lined the trees behind him, separated by chain link fencing with barbed wire at the top. Open fields for miles around were interrupted by the occasional trees and barns. He shook his head. It wasn’t ideal, but they didn’t have many options either.
Twenty or more soldiers were scattered about the field, laying mines at regular intervals. Two large excavators dug trenches behind the rows of mines.
“How is their equipment working?” Mikel asked.
“It was protected from the EMP,” Adalina replied. “A military secret according to the Lt. Colonel.”
“I’ve never seen you dislike a man, Adalina,” Mikel said with a grin. “But this one clearly has you ruffled.”
“He’s an arrogant ass.” Adalina rolled her eyes. “I’m sure he’s very competent at leading his men. I imagine he even has medals for combat bravery, but he’s too proud to admit he’s out of his league here, and he will not admit that a woman would know more than him.”
“I think he just got his first dose of reality,” Mikel replied. “He’ll change his tune before this is over.”
“If we survive,” Adalina muttered. “I don’t feel very good about our odds.”
Mikel looked across the fields at the preparations already underway. Had it not been for Adalina, they would certainly be doomed. At least now, they stood half a chance, especially if the rest of their warriors arrived in time.
“I’m going to send one of the scouts to look for Darian and Sara,” Mikel said. “We’re going to need them for this.”
“You should send Eva,” Adalina suggested.
Mikel raised an eyebrow at her.
“If she’s here, Stephen focuses on her safety rather than fighting at his best.”
“I understand,” Mikel replied. The two scouts continued to get closer. Their relationship hadn’t interfered with their roles before, but it’d been a long time since the Council faced an army of demons.
An hour later, soldiers lined the field closest to the fence armed with M4s, M60s, and grenade launchers. Adalina’s warriors grouped to one side, closer to the trenches. The scouts circled the perimeter of the field, except for Eva, who moved south looking for Darian. She wasn’t happy about it, but Mikel convinced her that finding Darian was more important than staying with them.
Stephen suddenly appeared next to Mikel. “The trucks are coming down the highway now, boss.”
“Did they get the barricade in place?” Adalina asked.
“Yes, they’ll have to enter the field in order to bypass it.” The scout shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
“Could you see who was in the trucks?” Mikel asked.
“No, but we have to assume they’re human. The demons are still chasing the caravan.”
“Let’s see what they do, then we’ll decide our next tactic.”
“Moore is overseeing the barricade,” Stephen stated, shifting his weight again.
Mikel wondered if Stephen’s nervous energy was anticipation from the looming fight or Eva. “As it should be, even if I worry about his decisions,” Mikel said with a frown. “He’s not stupid, so hopefully his mind is in the right place.”
“Let’s have a chat with the commander,” Adalina suggested. “Just to make sure we’re all on the same page.”
They teleported to the commander’s location. The barricade of heavy equipment sat at least a hundred yards back. The enemy caravan could circle the barricade on the northern side, rather than the obvious redirect to the south, but a large pond covered several acres in the northern field. The soldiers confirmed the land on that side was saturated from the spring rains, and any vehicles would be stuck within minutes. The southern fields were a little dryer from well-tilled and drained soil but not much.
They watched the trucks roll to a stop at the leading edge of the barricade.
“Are your men ready if they try to enter the northern field?” Mikel asked Lt. Colonel Moore.
“Yes, but I don’t like that they’re out there by themselves and unprotected,” Moore replied. “Those creatures would be on them in seconds.”
“And our warriors can be there to assist in seconds,” Mikel countered. “Besides, the Overlord is not stupid and neither are his lieutenants. They’ll consider their options first.”
“They’re unloading the trucks, Mikel,” Stephen said, directing their attention to the caravan.
Men poured from six large box trucks and Mikel’s heart sank.
“They’re human, not demons,” Moore stated, his voice stammering.
“Yes, I suspected that was the case but was hoping I was wrong,” Mikel said. “The demons are forcing them to fight, holding their towns and families hostage to ensure their cooperation.”
“That’s why you refused to blow up the trucks,” the Lt. Colonel concluded. “I wondered why you were so adamant about that.”
“Humanity has suffered too much to die at our hands,” Mikel explained. “The Overlord will use them to weaken the resolve of your soldiers.”
“It’ll work, too,” Moore agreed.
The men lined the road on the northern side while the trucks made a wide arc, turning around and going back in the direction from which they came.
“They’re going back for the undead,” Stephen said. “Do you think they’ll wait until the full force is here before they attack?”
“I don’t know, Stephen, but part of me hopes so,” Mikel replied. “It will give Eva time to find the rest of our warriors.” Mikel tried to keep the hopelessness from his voice, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded. Even with the explosives waiting in the fields, the odds were not in their favor. They couldn’t blow up their fellow humans, which meant the army would march straight through and meet them head-on. He couldn’t call them the enemy, because they weren’t. Not really.
He turned his gaze south and sent a silent prayer for the arrival of their allies.
Chapter 57
Seraphina
Four hours into their trip, and Sara was bored to tears. She sat in the back of one of the old trucks once again. This time, she had a pillow beneath her butt, providing some extra comfort. Darian had laughed at her when she tucked it under her arm, but she ignored him and brought it anyway. She was not going to endure that discomfort for an entire day.
“You could share the pillow,” Darian whispered.
“Why would I do that?” she asked. “I remember someone mocking me relentlessly for bringing it.”
“Alright, then sit on my lap, and I’ll sit on the pillow.”
“No,” David replied from across the small space. “There are other people in the truck besides you.”
“Seriously, David,” Sara said as her face flushed. “I’m crushed that you would doubt my self-control.”
He chuckled. “Consider it doubted, little girl.”
“Wow! You are no longer my favorite warrior.”
Laughter filled the back of the truck, and it felt good. Sara couldn’t believe she had found comfort and camaraderie with a group of super soldiers. Her place among them was equally unbelievable. So much had changed for her, and it seemed like it happened overnight.
“Why can’t we just teleport to the other base?” Sara asked. “It would be much quicker and more comfortable.”
“Because we don’t know where we’re going,” Darian replied.
“Sure, we do. We all saw it on the map.”
“It’s not the same as seeing it in person,” Darian explained. “How do you picture the location you wan
t to go if you’ve never seen it? I should’ve had Eva take us there before she left Santuario.”
“I’ve got a pretty good imagination,” Sara argued. “I can picture quite a bit without actually seeing it.”
“What if they’ve built new barracks on the bare piece of dirt you’ve selected?” David asked. “Two objects cannot occupy the same space.”
“Or you land in the middle of a minefield,” Kadir suggested. “They are getting ready for battle.”
“Alright, I get it.” She waved her hand at them, eliciting another round of laughter.
The truck slowed to a stop, and they looked at one another. David jumped out the back. Loud voices filtered through the thick canvas, and Darian pushed his way to the tailgate. Sara followed him along with the rest of the warriors.
“What’s going on?” Darian asked a soldier running towards them. The man skidded to a stop.
“There’s a woman in the middle of the road up ahead,” he replied. “She says she’s looking for Darian. Is that you?”
“Yes.”
None of them waited for the soldier to say more. As one, they rushed towards the front of the column of trucks. David and Darian reached the scout first, but Sara was only a few steps behind.
“What’s wrong, Eva?” Darian asked.
“The demon army has reached the base,” she said. “Mikel and Adalina were preparing a defense, but they cannot win a fight against the thousand or more demons marching on them, not to mention the hundreds of undead and men forced to join them.”
Darian looked at Sara. She knew they would go immediately. The warriors could follow with Eva leading them.
“David, leave a handful of men here to gather as many soldiers as possible. Get them ready to teleport to the base,” Darian commanded.
“Darian, go. We’ll handle this,” David responded. “Tell Adalina she’ll have reinforcements as soon as I can get them there.”
Eva took Darian, Sara, and one warrior back to the base. They arrived to chaos. The bodies of dead demons and humans littered the field in front of them, the smell of burning flesh assaulting Sara’s senses. It looked like the result of several triggered mines, with body parts scattered among the rocks and broken trees. Lines of demons spread out just beyond them, forwarded by hundreds of live and undead humans.
“Get back to David now,” Darian said in a harsh voice to the single warrior. “We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
The warrior vanished without a word, and Sara stared at the massacre happening a few hundred yards from where she stood. She’d witnessed death in the FBI, but not like this. The last battle scarred her even before the Overlord, but this…
The soldiers from the base slowly gave ground as the undead pushed against them. She watched in horror as Adalina and her warriors hacked arms and legs from the undead creatures, but they continued their assault. Mikel’s blade of light streaked across a half dozen zombies, their bodies falling in two. But still, they pulled their legless torsos towards the Council’s warriors.
The demons at the back of the line shuffled impatiently, but they didn’t attack. She noticed a white van behind the line of demons, and her eyes widened. It was the same van they’d seen at the last battle. Was this their opportunity for revenge?
“Darian, does that mean the Overlords are here?”
She pointed towards the vehicle, and Darian’s eyes narrowed then closed. She turned to Eva while she waited for Darian, but the scout was already sprinting towards the battle. Eva disappeared just before she entered the fray.
“Yes, Zar’Asur is here,” he replied, “but he’s hiding in the van. We can’t eliminate the undead without taking human lives with them, and he knows it.” He turned and looked at her. “How about you and I challenge a bunch of demons?”
“You do see how many there are, don’t you?” Sara asked, more than a little afraid.
“I do, but I think we can segment their group and control their attack,” he replied. “I want you to use your shield wall as a barrier between the demons and the undead. I’ll create a wall of fire on the opposite side. Their only options will be towards you and I or away.” He grabbed her hand, and they teleported closer to the fighting, but still on the southern edge.
“We may even be able to crush them between our walls,” she suggested hopefully. That could work.
“Exactly,” he stated. “On the count of the three.”
Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared at the raging battle before them. This was a really bad idea that would likely end in their deaths. Clashing steel and moans of pain reached her ears. Fear filled her mind, quickly joined by hatred and anger. She couldn’t tell if it was the demons, the humans, or the Council’s warriors. She shook her head as Darian’s voice reached the number three.
She threw up both hands and pushed forward. A twelve-foot-high, translucent wall tore a path between the demons and the humans. Darian’s blue wall of fire matched hers, creating a narrow tunnel filled with enormous horned creatures. Their red eyes turned as one towards the Watcher and Sentinel. The demon’s lust for violence canceled out all other emotions raging across the battlefield, flooding Sara’s mind with their singular emotion.
“Darian,” Sara gasped. “I have all of them.”
“Don’t you dare!” he yelled as he pushed his wall of fire towards her shield. “Hold your shield! We’ll crush as many as we can.”
She held the wall steady as his fire consumed hundreds of demons. Their howls of pain thundered over the battlefield. A new cry lifted in the air as the demons fell, and Sara recognized Adalina’s bellowing voice. She rallied the men around her, and Sara noticed the humans previously intermingled with the undead had turned against the zombies, joining their fellow soldiers.
“Don’t let go of your shield, Sara.” Darian’s voice brought her focus back to their task, and she pulled on her well of power, reinforcing her shield.
Hundreds of demons still remained and rather than run away from the fight, they surged towards Darian and Sara, trampling the smoldering bodies of their brethren. The temperature around Sara rose quickly, and she looked at her Watcher. A sphere a fire nearly three feet wide twisted and turned in front of him. His shirt was in tatters and flames licked the edges that remained.
“Pull your shield behind them!” he yelled.
She arced her shield with effort. Sweat poured from her body, and her vision started to swim. Darian released the ball of fire, and it collided with the demons that were nearly upon them. Those not immediately incinerated were thrown back fifty yards, colliding with the back of her shield. Darian sunk to his knees, his chest heaving with exertion.
The two hundred demons knocked back rose from the ground, gathering their dual-bladed axes and swords. They had no remorse for the deaths of their brethren, but their lust for Darian and Sara’s blood had increased tenfold. She connected with each of their minds, then looked at Darian. His eyes met her’s, and he shook his head.
“Don’t do this, Sara,” he said softly. “It will kill you. There are too many.”
“And they will kill everyone else if I don’t.”
“I cannot lose you,” he pleaded.
She turned away from him, afraid that he would change her mind. The demons had regrouped but did not attack. Darian pushed himself to his feet and moved closer to her. The side door of the van opened, and Zar’Asur stepped out. Sara let go of her shield, but not the minds of the demons before her. They rumbled in a harsh language she didn’t understand, but their intent was clear. They resented being held back.
The Overlord strolled through the remaining demons until he reached the front row, a mere hundred yards from Sara and Darian’s location.
“Very impressive,” the Overlord drawled in his low, scratchy voice. “But you cannot win this fight. My trucks will be here in fifteen minutes with the same number of undead to replace the ones killed. Your humans will surrender, and your Council will fall.”
“As alw
ays, you underestimate us,” Darian called out.
His body brushed against hers as he stepped to the side and stood behind her. He entwined his fingers with hers, and she heard his voice in her head.
I will give you my strength to kill these demons, but we’ll have nothing left to fight against Zar’Asur. And we will have to fight him.
I can’t see another way, Darian. We cannot fight him and the demons at the same time.
I came to the same conclusion.
Unless I kill him first.
As soon as she thought it, she knew it was the answer.
Do not get into his mind! Darian commanded.
She didn’t respond to him. Instead, she raised her right hand, Darian’s fingers still locked on hers. In a quick arcing motion, a long slender blade sored through the air towards the Overlord. He raised a hand, and her blade of light disintegrated.
“Well, damn,” she said.
She raised both hands and felt Darian’s power surge through her. Her well of power opened up to his and hundreds of tendrils of light snaked out in front of her. The Overlord’s eyes widened, and he wove his hands in front of his body, a red glow forming. She pushed harder, and as soon as her fingers of light reached their targets, the demons fell. She blinked several times and swayed on her feet.
Zar’Asur roared, and a red fireball rivaling Darian’s raced towards them.
“Oh, shit!”
She crossed her arms in front of her, bringing Darian’s with them. A curved shield formed around them as the fireball collided against it, the force of the impact throwing them back several feet. She landed on Darian’s chest and heard his breath rush from his lungs. She rolled off him onto her hands and knees. Exhaustion washed over her, and the world spun around, but she knew the Overlord wasn’t done yet.
She pushed herself to her feet and twisted around to face her opponent. His thin lips pulled back into a sneer, revealing his pointed teeth. His red eyes blazed, his clawed hands moving in slow circles at his chest once more.
“Please, God, don’t let my destiny end here,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure she had enough power left to protect them.
Sentinel's Rise: Book 1 - The Watcher and the Sentinel Series Page 36
