1 State of Grace

by John Phythyon

  As the horsemen negotiated their way around the blasted tree and tried to find a path down to the road, Wolf brought the dragon head to bear on them, this time selecting the rear one and rotating it into position. He took extra time to make sure he had the “X” where he wanted it. Then he fired. This time, the beam struck one of the marauders in the chest, blowing him off his horse. Wolf couldn’t tell if he’d been killed, but, given what the beam did to the tree on the first shot, he assumed he had.

  He took several more shots, felling all but two of the pursuers. By then, they had made it into bow range and opened fire of their own. One missed, and the other lodged itself in the wall of the carriage. Charles had the horses at a full gallop now, attempting to outpace their assailants.

  “To your right, sir,” he called.

  Wolf looked right and saw five more horsemen emerging from the forest. They were coming down a path that would put them in front of the carriage, enabling them to kill or jump the horses. Wolf couldn’t allow them to do that.

  He didn’t have a good angle on any of them with the right-front dragon, and he could have gotten only one at a time anyway. He decided to take a lesson from his first mistake. He rotated the dragon head, took aim at a large tree, and blasted it to pieces.

  As he’d hoped, it fell across the path they were using. The first rider was too close. His horse hit the tree, flinging him forward, out of the path, and onto the road. Stunned, he staggered to his feet just in time to be trampled by Wolf’s horses. The remaining four negotiated their way around the fallen tree, but, by the time they reached the road, the carriage had passed. They were now behind it and had to give chase.

  “Left, sir!” Charles shouted.

  In his concentration on the new threat, Wolf had forgotten about the old one. The remaining two riders from the initial attack had closed the distance. One let fly with an arrow that sailed in the window of the carriage and whistled past Wolf’s nose, narrowly missing him before embedding in the wall on the other side. Wolf swore again and tried to bring the left dragon heads to bear on him. It was too late, though. The marauder leaped from his horse and landed on the side of the carriage, grabbing hold of the door.

  Wolf could see now it was indeed an elf. His face was cast in shadow from the hood, but Wolf could see a pair of malevolent, green eyes blazing out from under it set against jet-black skin. The assailant pulled a dagger from his hip, put it in his teeth, and then set to working the door to get it open.

  Wolf reacted almost without thought. He turned to his right and dislodged the arrow from the wall of the carriage. When the elf got the door open and attempted to enter, Wolf buried the arrow in one of those fiery green eyes. His attacker screamed, clutched at his eye, and fell out. Wolf shut the door.

  As he did so, the carriage lurched, throwing him forward. After he recovered, he saw the source of the problem. The remaining elf had leaped onto one of the horses and was pulling its reins to slow it. Wolf tried to think what to do about that, when he heard a twang, and a crossbow quarrel embedded itself between the elf’s shoulder blades. He slumped forward, and then slipped off the beast’s back, getting trampled in the process.

  “Nice shooting, Charles,” Wolf yelled.

  “All in a day’s work, sir,” Charles replied. “I’m afraid our friend enabled his colleagues to catch up, though.”

  Wolf turned behind him and saw that, indeed, the four remaining horsemen had closed the gap. Two of them fired arrows. One struck the back of the carriage. The other shot overhead, clearly aiming for Charles.

  “Are you all right up there?” Wolf called.

  “Yes, sir,” Charles replied. “He missed me.”

  “Hang on,” Wolf yelled.

  He returned his attention to the control panel, found the button for the net, and looked back. The distance had widened a bit.

  “Charles, pull up on the reins a little,” Wolf ordered.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Wolf praised the man’s training for following orders without questioning. Within seconds, the pace of the carriage slowed, and the riders surged closer. Wolf waited another second to make sure they were in range. Then he pressed the stone.

  A giant net sprang from the back of the carriage, engulfing three of the riders and their horses. The beasts crashed to the ground. Wolf had no idea if their riders survived the fall or not, but he was pretty confident they were out of the chase.

  Only one pursuer remained. He picked his way around the mess of his comrades and then put on speed. When he was closer, he stood up in the saddle and aimed an arrow straight for the back window, hoping to kill Wolf whether the carriage got away or not.

  Wolf was ready for him. He’d rotated both rear dragon heads around. When he had the “X’s” lined up, he fired both of them. The beams both hit his would-be killer in the abdomen, cutting him in half. He loosed his arrow straight up in to the air as his top half fell backwards and into the road.

  “I think that’s done it,” Wolf called up to Charles.

  “Not quite, sir,” he said. “We’ve got a new threat coming up from behind.”

  Wolf stared out the back but saw nothing. There was no one in the road.

  “I don’t see it,” he called.

  “Up above,” Charles replied.

  Wolf put his head through the window and looked up. What he saw stunned him. There was another pursuer coming in on what looked to be a flying carpet. The man knelt on it, his black cloak snapping behind him.

  Wolf wasted no time wondering how this was possible. He returned to the control panel, and brought the dragon heads to bear. There was a problem, though. Quincy hadn’t anticipated an aerial assault. There was no way to rotate the weapons upwards.

  Wolf looked back again. The pursuer was getting closer. His magic carpet was much faster than the horses pulling the carriage. As he came closer, Wolf could make out his features. It was Ravager. The familiar, cruel smile was fixed on his face. He seemed to be enjoying this, knowing he would overtake his prey.

  Ravager dropped in behind them on the road. Wolf opened fire with the dragon heads, but Ravager was too careful. He stayed just above their deadly beams.

  When he was only about five yards behind them, he raised his right arm. Wolf saw a large bubble of Shadow spring up from it, and Ravager hurled it at them. As it came forward, a large, ravening mouth appeared on the front of it. Horrified, Wolf watched as it sailed overhead. He heard it bounce once on the roof of the carriage. Then there was an agonized scream from Charles. Wolf saw his driver fall off the carriage to the side of the road as the sadistic thing chewed him to pieces.

  Wolf looked back at Ravager and saw him smiling. Wolf wanted to tear the man’s heart out, but he had no time to think about anger, revenge, or fear. If he was going to survive, he needed his wits about him.

  With the carriage now driverless, Wolf returned to the control panel and touched the stone to disengage it from the harness. The terrified horses pounded off as the carriage slowed. Wolf grabbed the stick that controlled it and pushed it forward as Ravager sped past on his carpet.

  As the carriage picked up speed, Wolf rotated the dragon heads forward in case Ravager gave him a shot. The Phrygian Shadow arced around in a tight gyre and then came back for another pass.

  As soon as he was in range, Wolf opened fire on him. Ravager came in low enough he had to dodge a few of the shots, but he managed to elude them all by the time Wolf exhausted the magic in the dragon heads. When he got close, he let fly with another of his Shadow balls. It came straight for the front window. Wolf veered to the right, and the thing smashed into the corner of the carriage and was destroyed.

  Unfortunately, he was off the road now. The carriage threatened to collapse. He pulled hard on the lever back left, and the vehicle swerved at a dangerous angle towards a tree on the other side of the road. Ravager zipped past as Wolf veered back the other way and got the thing righted.

  Wolf wasn’t sure what to do. Ravager had more speed tha
n he did, and he was running out of weapons. And that Shadow power was more devastating than anything Wolf had ever seen. He willed himself not to panic, and pressed the lever as far forward as he could. The carriage rocketed ahead, outpacing the Phrygian Shadow – at least for the moment.

  But Wolf ran into another problem. The carriage was indeed faster than the horses, but the team was still in the road, and he soon caught up to them. Now he couldn’t go fast enough, and there was no way to elude Ravager.

  Sure enough, the Phrygian fiend roared up behind Wolf and laughed when he saw the situation. A vicious smile slid across his face.

  “There is nowhere for you to go, Mr. Dasher,” he called. “I think Her Majesty will need to appoint a new ambassador.”

  Ravager hurled another of his death balls at Wolf. Desperately, he ducked. Miraculously, it went through the back window, continued through the cab and exited out the front window. Unfortunately, it found a new target in one of Wolf’s horses. The beast screamed as Ravager’s weapon bit into its flank and started feeding.

  Wolf had only a moment to react. The horse collapsed, dragging the rest of them with it. Fortunately, it fell to its right, and pulled the rest of the team in that direction.

  Wolf jammed the stick to the left and veered around them, then pulled it back right to avoid three trees. He had it going straight again and pushed it forward, giving the carriage everything he had to try to outrun his deadly pursuer.

  Ravager had no intention of letting him go. While Wolf was busy negotiating around the horses, he closed the gap and landed on the roof of the carriage. Wolf was not about to let him lean down and fire one of those death balls straight into the window. He jerked on the stick, causing the carriage to lurch right. Ravager flew off to the left, but he caught the luggage rails and hung on.

  Wolf reached for his sword, hoping to be able to gore the fiend before he could do anything about his predicament. Before he could get it, though, Ravager kicked the door handle and managed to unlatch it. Wolf surged forward to pull it shut, but the Phrygian put his foot through the window, kicking Wolf square in the jaw.

  He fell back on the bench. As he recovered, Ravager withdrew his foot, altered his position, and flung open the door. Wolf grabbed his sword, still in its sheath, and jammed it into the Phrygian’s stomach. He winced from the pain but did not back down.

  Wolf stabbed at him again, but this time Ravager brought his knee up and redirected the sword away from him. Then he flung himself into the carriage on top of Wolf.

  Wolf wasted no time in trying to get the intruder off him. He hit Ravager three times in the face and twice in the ribs. The Phrygian Shadow crumpled, and Wolf shoved him off. He’d have fallen out the door, but the damned thing had shut behind him.

  Ravager smiled through bloody lips and launched himself at Wolf again. Wolf blocked him, but the quarters were too tight. There was no room to move effectively. Wolf could hold him off but not get away.

  Ravager spit blood into Wolf’s eyes. He couldn’t help but react, and the Phrygian used the opening to get a grip on Wolf’s neck. Planting his knees on the seat, Ravager moved over him and held him down. Wolf gasped for breath and tried to find a way out.

  “You’re weak,” Ravager said in Phrygian. “What kind of Shadow power is it to hide in shadows? You are worthless. I will show you true power.”

  Ravager’s blue eyes lit up with savage glee. Wolf could feel the man’s erect member against his leg. He was enjoying this.

  Wolf was too frightened to be disgusted. He dug his nails into Ravager’s wrist and twisted, trying to free his throat. Ravager brought his other hand up, and a bubble of Shadow popped up on the tip of it.

  “You can’t get away, Urlander,” he said. “If you free yourself from my grip, I’ll just kill you with my power.”

  Wolf ignored him. He focused on twisting the wrist. Ravager had an iron grip. If Wolf didn’t do something quickly, he was going to pass out.

  His right leg was draped off the bench, free of Ravager’s body. He brought his knee up hard, cracking one of the Phrygian’s ribs. Ravager released his grip and involuntarily brought his hand to his wounded side. Wolf used the opening to get his foot on the Phrygian Shadow’s chest and shove him away. Ravager landed on the seat, momentarily off-balance.

  “Time for you to fly,” Wolf growled. He stabbed the button Quincy had shown him.

  The roof flew off, and Ravager was catapulted out at terrific speed. Wolf kicked the lever to put the carriage in full motion again, so the fiend couldn’t land back inside. It took off at a jolt, and Wolf watched as Ravager landed hard on the ground. After a moment, he moved, but he didn’t get up to pursue. He just watched the carriage get away.

  Wolf cursed the man for not being dead. He’d almost certainly have to fight him again, and he didn’t know how he was going to beat him. What could he possibly do against that terrifying power of his? He knew now how Sara had been murdered, but he wasn’t sure what to do to avoid becoming the next victim.

  That was a problem for later, though. For the time being, he needed to get away and get to Al-Adan. He had a lot to report. Maybe his new controller would have some answers.

  Chapter 19: A Deadly Mistake

  (Two Months before Revelation Day)

  Boris Davidov sat poring over mission reports. He was most interested in Mikhail Greshenko’s mission. Dubbed, “Changeling,” as his service codename, Greshenko had the ability to alter his appearance. He was currently disguised as an elf on a deep-cover assignment in the Jifani government, where he served as an undersecretary to one of the High Fathers – the ruling priests in Jifan’s theocracy.

  Changeling’s mission was twofold. Most importantly, he was to observe and report. The PDB had a pretty good understanding of Jifani thought and foreign policy as a result of Changeling’s masquerade. The reports came infrequently, since getting free to forward the information he collected up-channel to Davidov was difficult. He was constantly watched – as were most of the minor government figures – so he had to be careful about when he sent a packet to Pushkingrad from Eranbul. But when they came, they were packed with information that gave Phrygia a strategic advantage in this arena over Urland or even Alfar.

  Secondly, he was to attempt to manipulate policy in favor of Phrygia whenever possible. Again, he had to be very careful about when and how he did this. Jifan was notoriously xenophobic, and they tolerated Phrygian interests in their country only so far as it could be seen to counter Urlish activity in Alfar. Unfortunately, the High Fathers, while being strongly opposed to the Urlish presence in Alfar, saw it as a tactical advantage that weakened what they saw as a corrupt administration. The more the Urlanders interfered in Alfari affairs, they thought, the more likely it was their sponsored terrorist activities would ultimately succeed.

  Thus, Changeling often had a difficult job convincing his superior to work in Phrygia’s interest. And, of course, it was made doubly difficult by the fact that the High Fathers were suspicious of humans to begin with. In fact, if his true identity had been known, he would surely be put to a gruesome death.

  Sadly, he had nothing positive to report in this latest packet. He had tried to suggest that training some Phrygian magicians would be in line with Frey’s message of guiding other races to perfection, and he had added it would lend a tactical advantage to Jifan to have human allies should the High Fathers be in a position to attack Alfar again.

  But, while High Father Holyoak was more progressive than many of the other members of the theocracy – the very reason Changeling had been assigned to him – he was still a conservative Shendali fundamentalist. He saw no profit in training humans to use magic, even if they were allies.

  Boris sighed. The High Command was simply going to have to come up with a better strategy. The Jifanis were never going to cooperate in a meaningful way. So long as Phrygia relied on them for assistance against Urland, the balance of magical power was going to favor the Urlanders.

  Just then
, there was a knock at his door. He glanced up to see Sofia looking at him with a worried expression on her face.

  “Excuse me, Comrade Major,” she said. “General Yevgeni Tupelov is here to see you.”

  Boris felt his heart stop for several seconds. Tupelov was here to see him? That couldn’t possibly be good. Sofia looked scared. That didn’t portend well either.

  “Please show him in, Sofia,” he said.

  “Da, Comrade Major,” she said and went out.

  Boris had just enough time to swallow and try to get the dry feeling out of his throat. Then Yevgeni Tupelov strode into the office as though he owned it. His bald head gleamed as though it had been polished. His single eye blazed at Boris like a signal light. His olive army uniform was immaculately creased. His posture was ramrod straight, and he smiled like a jackal.

  “Good afternoon, Comrade,” he said.

  He snapped a salute at Boris and then stood there waiting for it to be returned. Boris tried and succeeded in not rolling his eyes. Technically, Tupelov outranked him, but they were in different services. Boris was not under Tupelov’s command. Still, he decided it would be better not to deliberately insult the pompous general. He stood up and saluted.

  “Good afternoon, Comrade General,” he said. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  Tupelov turned away and started talking as though he hadn’t heard the question.

  “I wonder if you can help me, Major Davidov,” he said.

  “If it is within my ability, I will do what I can,” Boris said.

  He sat back down. Tupelov was in his office. He wasn’t going to act like a subordinate.

  “I have a little mystery I need solved over at Army Station 505,” Tupelov continued. “I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on it.”

  “I’ll try,” Boris said, attempting not to sound nervous. “But I don’t have an agent on the army base. That’s your command.”

  “Indeed,” Tupelov said. “Nevertheless, you might be able to assist me.