by Randi Darren
“Even if I do agree it’s annoying.”
This time, Caroline had also brought along a large rifle. She’d belted it around her middle and through the saddle, so it couldn’t get away from her regardless of what Taylor was doing. Attached to it was a massive box magazine fed by another at her hip.
I wonder if that’s a Mr. White special. Might be. He tends to enjoy creating one-offs he can mass produce afterward.
Caroline looked rather strange to Vince’s eye.
An Elf.
Riding a Dragon.
In plate mail.
Wearing a rifle.
A strange mishmash of old world and new world, and something else entirely.
Taylor snorted at Caroline’s words. “Just send me, Ramona, and my rider in, and we can handle it by ourselves.
“Nothing would be left standing.”
Your rider? When did that happen? You haven’t even known each other for very long at all.
Vince felt like he was suddenly losing track of everyone’s personal relationships.
Not that it was a problem—but he felt he was slowly losing awareness of his family.
Caroline chortled and then patted the big black on the back with loud thumping strikes of her palm.
“We could very easily kill a good many of them and damage the artillery.
“Our orders are to capture them if possible. Destruction is only secondary,” said the Elf soothingly. “Which means we need help, since we’d be hard-pressed to preserve the guns, now wouldn’t we?”
Ramona shrugged, her wings stretching out behind her. “Either way, it’ll be good to be in a fight again. More so in a situation where we’re being utilized for our abilities.
“I’m quite pleased that Thera found a role for us as a group. I feared we’d be stuck to the back lines again.”
At Ramona’s mentioning of the group, Vince felt the immediate need for a mental attendance list.
For perhaps the twentieth time, he looked at each person around him and reviewed their general goals.
That and the simple fact that they were here.
Mouth and Blue for support.
Yaris and Leila for magical artillery.
Taylor, Ramona, and Caroline to break the enemy formation and keep Dragons out of the air.
Red and myself as clean-up and follow-through.
“Checking again? There’s really no need. We’re not going to simply vanish, you know,” Mouth asked. She’d managed to close in on him after he’d counted her. “Or are you still wondering about everyone else?”
“Uhm, a bit of both,” Vince admitted, turning his head back to the cliff face.
Far up above, he could faintly hear the gun crews getting ready to fire down on Thera’s army.
“You’re a very interesting man, Vincent Campbell. We all love you in our own ways, as well,” Mouth said, linking her arm in his. “However, we are not little dolls that run around worrying over you all day.
“And recently, with the death of some of our number, those bonds strengthened.”
Mouth pursed her lips as she considered what to say next.
“Many of us spend quite a bit of time apart from you. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am to spend all my time at your side.
“As an example, Caroline and Taylor found that when they worked together last time, they were fairly unstoppable. From what I hear, they practically slaughtered the enemy without even a concern.
“A Snow Elf can modify heat, which a Dragon’s fire would undoubtedly count as. Not to mention, they can fly as high as they like and she can keep herself perfectly warm. I hear it’s quite cold the higher you go.
“Though as far as Elves go, the Snow Elves are nowhere near as martial as the Wood or Dark variety of their kind.
“She relies on the Dragon to keep them safe.”
Vince nodded, laying his free hand over Mouth’s forearm. “In other words, they filled each other’s gaps and find it preferable to work together rather than alone.”
“Just so. Well, that and they seem to share a dislike for Yaris.
“As for Red and myself… well… after transferring her meals over to her for as many years as I did… it just kinda happened.
“It’s not a sexual relationship, mind you. She wants to cuddle if she’s mad at you, or if you’re with someone she isn’t particularly fond of,” Mouth said with a shrug. “Only me, Mel, Elysia, and Blue now play with each other when you’re not around.”
“Using the earlier example of Yaris, it does go both ways,” Mouth said. She could be quite the chatter box if no one stopped her or there wasn’t anything going on. “There are those who simply want nothing to do with one another.
“Caroline and Yaris will probably never see eye to eye, though they do have a healthy respect for one another. Yet the other Elves seem to prefer to be around Yaris.
“I personally think it’s because Yaris can’t seem to assert her Royal Elf influence over Caroline as well as she can everyone else. Then again—”
The sound of distant horns from the west cut Mouth short.
“Poo,” said the Dryad. Reaching over, she pulled Vince down by his collar and kissed him firmly. “Be safe. Don’t get hurt if you don’t have to. Blue has a decent ability to heal others, as does Yaris, but even still, there’s no point in testing the heavens.”
Patting him on the cheek once, Mouth moved off to join Blue, Yaris, and Leila.
A large clawed hand encircled him and then picked him up off the ground.
He was hoisted up in front of Taylor’s face, with Red in her other hand next to Vince.
“Are you two ready?” Taylor asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” Vince said with a smirk.
“Red hates flying. Red hates flying. Red hates flying,” muttered Red as some sort of mantra.
“I don’t think she’s ready,” Caroline said.
“She just really doesn’t like flying,” Ramona said. “Red, it’s ok, alright? This is just a very short trip. It’s not anything like the long trips we used to take, ok?”
“Short. Very short?” Red asked.
“Very, very short. Less than a minute,” Ramona said.
“Ok. Red can do that. Red still doesn’t like flying,” she mumbled.
A short, single note caught their attention.
“Time to go,” Taylor said, then leapt into the air.
“Red hates flying!” screeched the Beastkin as they took off into the air.
Vince was facing the wrong way, unfortunately. All he could see was the rest of the team loading up onto a disc made of air by Leila.
“Sorry about that,” Taylor said as she turned her wrist, orienting Vince on their attack point.
Laid out on top of the bluff were at least a hundred old-tech artillery pieces.
They were all pointing in the same direction and seemed completely focused on their task.
Aiming at the soldiers of Yosemite.
Unless they could break the Tri-lliance’s defensive line here, Thera would end up bogged down.
To follow through the plan of sweeping their flank, they had to start here with the artillery. Simply put, they had far too much range and accuracy to be left alone.
“Going to drop you on top of that first crew,” Taylor said. Her voice was loud, having to compete with the wind as it whipped by them and the sound of her wings popping through the air.
“Red is ready!” cried the Beastkin, seemingly eager to no longer be in the air, even if that meant falling.
Despite having flown for a considerable distance at full speed, they were already on the first gun-crew.
Taylor opened her claws as she pulled up into a steep climb.
Even as he fell through the air, Vince pulled his blade out.
Below him, six men were all fixated on their guns’ sights.
Slashing out with his blade at the loader next to him as he landed, Vince took the first kill. Turning, he charged the two other loaders, who were
staring at him with astonished faces.
As he thrust out with his blade, it slipped easily through the leather jerkin the man was wearing.
The last loader fell on his ass, holding his hands up in front of himself.
Vince drew his handgun from the holster and fired a single shot. It went through the man’s hands and into his head, his body going limp.
Lifting the gun and turning to assess the threats, Vince found there were none.
Red was just standing up as he turned. Her hands were bloody, and the fallen forms of the gunner, surveyor, and NCO were piled up around her.
“Next gun,” she said, setting off at a sprint for the closest gun nearby.
The six men there had noticed what was going on at the first gun, however.
By the time Vince and Red arrived, they had drawn weapons and looked as if they were ready for combat.
Vince lifted his left hand and fired twelve rounds in rapid succession.
Each round struck roughly center mass. Two rounds per man.
Heart or lungs, either way.
Reaching the cannon, Vince looked at the soldiers. Four of the men were writhing on the ground—two had already gone still.
Walking up to each of the four men, Vince paused long enough to put a single shot into each of their heads.
Ejecting the magazine, he checked it.
Three? No thanks.
Flicking his finger through the lips of the magazine feed, he pushed the final rounds out.
Then he dropped down next to a man with blood pouring out of a head wound.
Holding the magazine to the fountain that seemed to surge with what Vince would guess were heartbeats, he waited.
It filled up quickly.
Not worrying about what it’d do to the gun, he jammed the magazine home.
She did say it’d maintain itself, after all.
He looked around and saw two more guns nearby.
Red was already at one, clawing through the six men as if they were nothing but tissue paper standing in her way.
“She’s got that,” Vince said, and turned toward the second gun.
A purple ball of soul-scorching flame dropped on both it and the men.
The shriek of metal expanding and a shell going off immediately drowned out the screams of the dying.
Looking back, Vince found Leila, Yaris, Blue, and Mouth watching him.
Leila was seated on the ground, her eyes closed tightly.
“How many more does that leave?” Yaris asked.
“Not sure. There weren’t that many up here. I don’t even know where Taylor and Ramona ended up either, considering there’s an obvious lack of cannons.
“Maybe we overestimated how many cannons they had up here,” Vince said, looking around.
There were no other artillery pieces nearby.
“No, Taylor surveyed the area personally,” Mouth said with a shake of her head. “If they’re not here, they moved them elsewhere. But it’s only been a day. Where could they have moved them to?”
“Dunno, but we’ll need to find them. Otherwise they’ll start ripping into our people. Any chance you can go nice and high up to take a look, Leila?”
“No. I’m spent. I over-cast on that spell, but one of them had a gun and was pointing it at you,” Leila said, her head hanging down.
“Doesn’t leave much of a choice for us then. If—”
Ramona landed with a whump in front of him.
“Vince! They must have spotted us when we spied out this area. The guns are all gone,” she said. “I already found where they went, too.”
“Huh? Alright. Where’s Taylor? She can ca—”
“She’s fighting a Dragon that came to see what was going on.
“We need to go, now,” Ramona said. “Like we used to, without the harness.”
Vince groaned and then sheathed his sword and holstered his sidearm.
Stepping in close to Ramona, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, then hopped and wrapped his legs around her waist.
“Let’s get it over wi—ieeaeaaa!” Vince got out as Ramona launched off from the ground.
Staring down over Ramona’s shoulder, he could see the magical support group watching him in return.
Ramona’s arms were tight around him, her fingers digging into him.
“They found a little hill that overlooks the middle of the field,” Ramona said, her mouth close to his ear. “We won’t be able to stay long, I think, before they start trying to run us down.
“Taylor is planning on doing a breath-of-fire run when she gets back.”
Hoping she’d make it back, as the alternative seemed rather grim, Vince could only nod his head.
Channeling the magic into his body to flood his veins, he could feel the rage starting up.
Controlling it and converting it to an asset was one of his best abilities. It gave him a near-limitless strength and energy.
Even if it did sap him to the point of passing out afterward and ignoring wounds.
Need to be quick. Quick and vicious. The more crews I kill, the more guns I knock out, the better off we are.
“Going in!” Ramona called as her wings folded slightly and she pitched them into a dive.
Vince growled at the situation, not liking it one bit, as red pulsing anger flashed over his vision.
“Now!” Ramona called, her wings flaring out.
Vince let go and tucked tightly into a ball.
Hitting the turf, he bounced several times, rolling across the grass, before he simply popped up and unholstered his pistol.
Sighting it at the closest enemies, he began to pull the trigger. Unable to keep as much control this time, he ended up pulling it several times per enemy. Going through his ammo much faster.
Not bothering to keep count of what he had, since it wouldn’t be enough anyway, Vince moved to the next closest crew.
Stepping over the writhing bodies of the dying crew, Vince released the magazine.
Snatching it as it left the handle, he slipped it into its place on his belt.
Pulling another magazine free, he slammed it home and lifted the barrel of the gun up again.
Before he got up on them, he began to squeeze the trigger. The pounding of his temples demanded he kill more of them.
More and more of them, until there were no Tri-lliance members left.
To drown them all in a sea of blood and turn their cities into pyramids of bones.
The slide at the top of the gun locked back as the last crewman dropped to the ground.
Turning immediately, Vince started to head straight to another cannon. Exchanging another magazine, he racked the slide.
The six gunners took off running, not bothering to fight him or to protect the cannon.
Frustrated and not really able to do anything about it, Vince glared angrily at the shells near the gun.
Focusing on the necklace Leila had made him as a channel, Vince tried to focus his magical energy into the shells.
And they detonated, bathing everything in shrapnel and fire.
Spinning in place, Vince began to rapidly target every shell he could lay his eyes on. Immediately, he focused magical energy into them.
Shells began to detonate almost the very moment he laid eyes on them.
Sprinting forward, Vince didn’t bother trying to engage the crews anymore. He focused his entire being on locating the shells and blowing everything up.
What felt like only a minute later, Ramona was there.
“We need to go, now!” she said.
In a fraction of a second, the red rage in Vince’s mind shut off. Grasping hold of Ramona just as he’d done earlier, he braced himself.
A powerful flap of her wings and they were airborne again.
Looking down to the landscape below, Vince could see smoking craters, fires, and people running around in every direction.
But many more guns were still manned. Manned and actively firing.
“We didn’t g
et them all,” Vince muttered.
“No, but we got a great many of them,” Ramona called back. “And Taylor is fine, before you start worrying.”
Vince blinked at that, realizing he had indeed started worrying about the fact that he couldn’t remember Taylor showing up.
Letting his mind blank out, Vince hung onto Ramona as they flew back to the rear echelon of Thera’s army.
Unable to tear his eyes away from the guns even as they faded into little more than specks, he watched them.
Watched them as they fired unceasingly.
Chapter 32
Ramona landed with a thud, the impact fairly gentle but still managing to break Vince’s tenuous hold on her.
Slipping free of her like an unrestrained sack of potatoes, he slid to the ground and landed on his ass.
“Ow,” Vince mumbled, not moving from the spot.
“Is he ok?” asked Thera from somewhere behind him.
Ramona appeared in front of him, her eyes peering into his face. Her lizard-like pupils focused in on him, rapidly shrinking in size and then expanding again.
“Yes, just tired. From what it looked like, he was finally channeling his magic like Leila and Yaris wanted him to,” Ramona said as she stood back up out of his view.
“He was what?” Thera asked.
“Using magic. To blow up shells. They just… started going off.
“Anyways, he’s fine. Just spent. I’m here to report in about the situation first and foremost,” Ramona said.
As if the comment snapped her back to her senses, Vince actually heard Thera straighten up.
“Please do so.”
“We took the cliffs. Captured nine or so pieces.
“There were no others up there. They’d all been moved to another location, which was determined to be behind the center of the line,” Ramona said.
Vince turned his head a bit to the side. Looking out across the field, far out and away, he could see the soldiers of Yosemite clashing directly with the Tri-lliance.
Without his superior eyesight, he doubted he’d have been able to see it.
The lines of battle have been drawn and acted on.
“…dropped Vince in and went to the other side of the encampment to work my way towards him.
“In doing so, I would estimate we eliminated sixty percent of the guns between the two of us.
