An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2)

by Marie Andreas

  “As honorable as that is, it will not be necessary.” The unaccented voice cut in on the radio in Reece’s car. “We are here to help.”

  Aisling was sure the look of shock and confusion on everyone’s faces was reflected on her own. Before anyone could stop him, Reece put down his gun, and stepped away from the car.

  “How?” He seemed far too calm as he faced the Lazing car.

  The car door opened and a tall Japanese human male stepped forward. He reminded Aisling of Jones. He placed himself at the same distance from his car as Reece was from theirs. “The individual Nix has been a focus of our clan for over five hundred years. Different name, same person. However, we have become split in what we should do. Some wanted to bring him back, to get him to work for us. The rest of us believe he’s too deadly for that and he needs to be killed.” He nodded to someone in his car and the fires of the other two cars were repressed. It would have taken more magic to do that than to blow them up initially.

  “I take it you’re of the “kill-him-now” group? I’m Reece Larkin, by the way.” He gave a nod and slight bow. One which brought a smile to the Lazing.

  “Thank you. I am Mazuka Kenko, you may call me Kenko. Yes, we are, and we know who all of you are. Except for the small fey who has been spying on us. But she might have saved us unneeded bloodshed. We want to join in your attack on the dome, and the destruction of Nix.”

  “Let me talk to my superiors.” Reece reached into the car, then paused. “The last car of yours still following the convoy?”

  “It is on our side. There is a shachen mage in that car. They are masking the convoy from our illogical counterparts and anyone else who might be trying to locate all of you. We have more people waiting in Amersham.”

  Aisling had never met one of the shachen, but she’d heard of them. Like the alc mages, the shachen were loners, but mostly stayed in east Asia. Most magic users had one, maybe two areas of power. Changelings almost always had more and the shachen mages were like them in that regard. But unlike the changelings, the shachen mages were exceptionally powerful. One could easily wipe out a hundred regular magic users, three times that if they were extremely focused.

  Aisling could tell Reece wanted to know more, but they didn’t have the time. Instead, he nodded and called Bart. The call was short.

  Aisling wanted to know about the shachen. That one of them left Japan was a massive statement as to how serious the Lazing took Nix.

  Reece finished a short conversation with Bart, then turned back to Kenko. “Our boss said anyone who wants to kill Nix is welcome to join us. As long as you understand that our main objective will be to drop that dome. And there are a lot of other people who want to kill him also.”

  “And that this is temporary and we will be expected to leave the United Kingdom once the current objectives are over.” Kenko’s smile was small, but looked sincere. “I did not listen in on your call, however the same would have been asked of you had our positions been reversed.”

  “True and good point.” Reece got back into their car along with Aisling and Maeve. Stella never got out. She did lean down so Kenko could see her and waggled her fingers and smiled. He actually cracked a large smile and gave her a bow before getting in his car.

  Reece and Jones took the lead with Kenko’s car behind.

  “Well, if he’s legit and they do have a shachen mage with them, that alone is worth having them along.”

  “As long as they are really on our side.” Maeve kept looking back to the two cars following them, but her focus was on Kenko’s car. “Think of the damage they could do if they aren’t?”

  “They could have killed us, or at the least most of us, just now. They didn’t have to tell us about the shachen mage either.”

  Stella leaned forward. “And I trust them. Well, at least the one we spoke to, but I got no feelings of hostility or duplicity from anyone in Kenko’s car.”

  Maeve still looked concerned, but they all stayed silent the rest of the trip.

  Amersham wasn’t a large town, and it was looking overfilled with all of the agents and former military in the streets. Flyers were already getting fitted with the packs. Reece went down a side road. Jones and Kenko followed him. Good idea, since while Bart knew they were bringing in Lazing operatives, others wouldn’t. If Kenko was as high ranking as she suspected, some agents might recognize him as Lazing. Keeping him and his people nearby until the information of their collaboration came out would be a good idea.

  “Where did that other car go?” Aisling asked as they walked down the side street to where Bart had gathered people.

  Kenko smiled. “Waiting for me to show up. Most folks wouldn’t know we are Lazing, but with this many agents on hand it was safer to be prudent.” He and his people followed Reece and Jones to Bart. There were two other men and two women, all of them with the same neutral look Jones usually wore.

  “Jones, are you sure you didn’t go in for training with the Lazing?” Maeve asked, as Aisling wasn’t the only one who noticed the similarities.

  “No, but they are to be admired.” Jones was walking behind the Lazing contingent and Kenko turned and nodded.

  “Thank you. The same could be said of you.”

  A group of elves, former military by their stances, surrounded Bart, but took off at a run so fast it was hard even for Aisling to see.

  “They’ll be leading to the south,” Bart said. “I am honored to meet you, Mazuka Kenko. And a bit surprised.”

  “The same to you, Agent Barthlinio Churchill. I know time is crucial, but I would like to share what we are bringing.” He and Bart stepped aside from the mass of agents to keep their discussion private.

  “Any idea when.... ahh.” Aisling was about to ask about the trolls, but Reg, Grundog, and three more came into view. “Thought there were more?”

  Stella smiled. “There will be.”

  The rest of their group left to help with Caradoc’s massive weapon, but Aisling, Maeve, and Stella met Reg and his people.

  Grundog’s smile was huge when she saw them, but she refrained from hugging.

  “Good to see you, Reg. What brings you out this way?” Maeve had made the contact, she got to play lead. Aisling saw Bart look over from his conversation with Kenko, but he just nodded.

  “Very nice to see you, Maeve. As well as Aisling and Stella. We were meeting here to set up a base for attacking the dome.” He looked around as if in surprise at the number of people around them. “I see that I wasn’t the only one who saw this town as a good launch point.”

  He, Maeve, Aisling, and Stella went back and forth discussing the plans and strategies. Finally, Maeve nodded. “I know the Ckiong don’t work under anyone else, but would you be agreeable to working alongside our forces? We do have a common goal.”

  Reg nodded, then turned to the three trolls with him and Grundog. Close up, it was clear all three were older and far more formally dressed than he or Grundog. They nodded as a single person. “I believe we can agree to that.”

  Reg smiled, keeping the tusk visibility at a minimum and nodded to where Bart was sending off another group. “I believe I shall go discuss this with your Agent Churchill.” He left. The three older trolls also left, leaving Grundog behind.

  She waited until they were gone, then took a deep breath. “Those are the Akeng Council—almost royalty among the trolls. They’ve been with us the past two days. Feels like I’ve been in a corset the entire time.” She looked around, then picked up and hugged all three women. “Better.”

  “They don’t approve of hugging?” Stella looked worried for her friend.

  “Not so much that. Just trying to impress them.” She looked around and bent lower to whisper. “Reg and I are courting and there are still some biases against those of us who aren’t full troll. He’s fine with my minotaur half, but until we are wed, I need to tread carefully.” She smiled. “It is good to see you all.”

  “Agreed. These are trying times.” Stella looked around the
hustle. Groups of flyers and other fighters were heading out in waves. “I’m still not sure what this effort will bring about, but at least we’re doing something.”

  Aisling looked around also. “Are you happy you got involved in this after all?”

  “Yup. Someone has to keep an eye on all of you.” She looked toward where Caradoc, Harlie, and Dailten stood. “Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get my harness on.”

  “You’re flying?” Aisling was surprised. As a changeling, wings would be possible, but if Stella had never used them before she’d have issues.

  “No, I’m going to be attached to Dailten. We made a special harness last night, she’s strong enough to carry me, and this way we’ll have twice the magic.” The gleam in her eye wasn’t reassuring.

  “Make sure you two stay out of trouble.” Aisling knew Dailten wouldn’t have a problem with Stella’s weight, harpies were a compact but extremely strong race, but she’d seen the two of them off laughing together back in Noth. She wouldn’t put it past them to have their own agenda.

  The ground started rattling not long after Stella and Dailten lifted off.

  Two thousand trolls were marching down the road, not saying a thing, but their footsteps spoke for them. If pure might could get through that dome, they wouldn’t need anything beyond the trolls. They stopped in the road, clearly at parade rest. Reg and Bart spoke some more, Reg nodded to the trolls, and most of them took off at a jog around the base of the dome. Trolls couldn’t hit the speeds that elves could, but they could still get in a good pace once they built up steam.

  “I still don’t fully understand what guns are going to do.” Maeve nodded toward Caradoc’s machine as they walked toward him. “Or what that is.”

  It looked like someone had combined the weapons area of a tank, a trebuchet, and a massive body scanner. It also had two thick arms and eight long skinny metal arms.

  “This is the answer to both questions.” Caradoc said as they came closer. “We have enough firepower on the ground to make some dents on the dome, but we needed something to help de-stabilize it before the flyers hit it with their dust and spells.” He patted the awkward looking thing. “That’s what this is for. It uses firepower, electrical shock, ground vibration, and concentrated goo dust. Watch.” He looked like a kid with a new toy on naming day as he pressed a few buttons on the remote he held. The machine rumbled forward and trudged to the dome’s edge. It stuck out one of the heavy arms, but didn’t touch the dome. Instead, the arm started pounding the ground right at the base. The vibrations shook the ground and nearby rocks hopped.

  The dome looked solid, but intel indicated it wasn’t. But it was so thick and dense, it was almost impossible to get through.

  Until now.

  As the first arm kept pounding the ground, one of the thinner, smaller arms went up about four feet and positioned a small explosive into the vibrating dome. It was slowly swallowed by the mass of the dome, exploded, and blew up a small hole. The inside of it was dark, but clear. Then it slowly closed on itself.

  Caradoc switched off the machine. “That was a small test. When Bart calls for us to go, this baby and I will be punching our way through all along the rim. More of a distraction than a serious threat. But did you notice the color of the dome where we punched through?”

  “It’s lighter.” Aisling leaned forward even though being that close to the dome was disturbing. “I can see the street on the other side. People are frozen.”

  “Yup. If I can make enough holes, I might do some lasting damage to it.” After a brief time of doubting his powers, he was back to the cocky Caradoc she loved.

  Aisling stepped back a few feet. “I don’t get why Nix isn’t responding. I know he’s a cocky bastard, but there’s a chance we’ll drop this thing. He’s not even coming out to defend it?”

  Caradoc’s smile fell. “My fear as well. We might have mobilized sooner than he thought, but he must have expected something.”

  Reece came over. “I hope you’re ready to roll, Caradoc. It looks like everyone is in place.”

  “I am—”

  The top of the dome opened and a dozen or more heavily armed people scrambled out. They wore odd boots that kept them on the dome surface even as the hole closed back up. Most appeared to be Nix clones, but there were others there too. They didn’t even acknowledge the people on the ground but started shooting at the flyers.

  Chapter Fifty

  Reece and Bart started yelling orders. Caradoc swore and quickly reversed his machine, made some adjustments, and started firing at the top of the dome. Obviously it could do more than just rattle the dome, apparently he’d worked a large caliber gun into its design.

  “All flyers get the hell out of here!” Bart yelled into his radio so loudly Aisling was sure they could hear him without their radios.

  First one, then three more flyers couldn’t get away fast enough and were shot down by the Nix clones. Three crashed to the ground. One hit the dome and Aisling watched in horror as the dome itself swallowed the body.

  Elves were racing trying to catch the struck flyers as more were hit. Kenko ran up with a heavily robed person.

  It must have been the shachen mage, but there was no way to see anything as even the hands were covered.

  Kenko said something in Japanese to the mage, then turned toward the dome. The mage’s words as they chanted reinforcement to their spells were heavy and reverberated in Aisling’s chest.

  Dark blue lightning shot out from the mage’s hands and struck five of the people on top of the dome. Before the remaining flyers could return to the airspace above the dome, the top opened again and twenty more people, armed with guns, came out of the top. The mage’s voice grew stronger and the arcs of lightning turned deep purple. A shachen mage should have been able to wipe out all of the people on the dome; they were still removing some, but more replaced them. Something was affecting the shachen mage’s magic.

  Caradoc’s weapon wasn’t doing as much good as hoped. Shot after shot was deflected by some unseen power and went wide over the dome.

  A crack appeared in the dome right in front of them and a wave of Nix clones, plus a dozen more people stepped out and started firing. An odd gas came out with them.

  “Back up and get on your masks!” Caradoc yelled as he slapped on his.

  Bart called the order to get on the masks through to the others around the dome. The trolls didn’t have masks, but those with Reg accepted the ones Reece handed out.

  Caradoc fired his weapon at the crack. Part of the dome crumpled on itself.

  The Lazing had their own masks and a shield appeared around the shachen mage. They kept sending spells to the top of the dome, but whatever was blocking them continued.

  Aisling and Maeve ducked behind a car and returned fire, as all of the agents did. The dome had closed back up again and the clones and the rest who had come out were still firing but not trying to protect themselves. They went down quickly.

  Two Lazing were near three clones as they fell, then the Lazing crumbled to the ground pulling at their masks and screaming.

  “Stay back!” Bart yelled as the two Lazing twitched violently and then stilled.

  “Caradoc, are these masks going to hold?” Aisling watched as the people and clones from within the dome were shot down. They appeared to just be a way to distract the attackers and get the gas out.

  “Damn it, I don’t know.” He fussed with something on his machine and it started shaking the ground again.

  The shachen mage stepped forward as the gas enveloped them. Their shield protected them, but they weren’t firing spells anymore. Aisling shuddered at something strong enough to nullify a shachen mage.

  Dailten and Stella landed hard behind them. Stella was unconscious.

  Aisling ran and unbuckled the harness as she checked for a pulse. It was there, but Stella had a gash on the side of her head. She handed Dailten one of Caradoc’s masks and put one on Stella’s face.

  “Wil
l she be all right? I tried to pull back in time, but they tagged us.” Dailten’s right arm hung down uselessly.

  “You can’t fly like that.” Aisling started to heal Stella.

  “Why? It’s not one of my wings.” Dailten shook her feathers to demonstrate. “But I need you to fly with me. I can’t release the powder.”

  “Stella is stabilized, I can protect her.” Maeve squatted down next to Stella. “But if you get inside, don’t forget, the real Nix is mine.”

  Aisling looked between Stella and Dailten. “I have no intention of going inside, but he’s all yours.” She looked up. “Someone needs to get the Lazing to pull back, their masks aren’t working.”

  Maeve looked as two more Lazing charged the shield. “They know. They are bound now and will fight to their death.”

  “Damn it.” Aisling turned to Dailten. “You sure you can carry me? I weigh more than Stella and am about a foot taller.”

  “Pish. Get the harness on.” Dailten looked down at the unconscious Stella. “We’ll win this, my friend.”

  Aisling put on the harness, attached both bags of dust and got buckled on to Dailten.

  Reece came running up as they finished. “What are you doing?”

  “Same as you, fighting.”

  “Be careful, Nix can open the dome anywhere he wants. Harlie radioed in from the other side of the dome—he said for you to use the pendant.”

  Aisling shrugged. “Can’t hurt. Hopefully.” Anything else she was going to say was lost as Dailten pushed off and flew high above the dome.

  “We have to get those people off the top. What kind of aggressive spells do you have?” Dailten’s voice carried well even in the wind from flight.

  “Nothing that will reach them.”

  “You have your guns on you?”

  “Yes I do.”

  Dailten swooped low and Aisling managed to pick five people off the dome. The speed with which Dailten flew back up was impressive.