The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon

by Matthew Burkey

  “Oh sweet,” Tony said, rubbing his hands together. “Greek Fire Grenades?”

  “All yours,” Ethan smiled.

  “I am going to have way too much fun with this,” Tony said, nearly sprinting from the room.

  “Does it bother anyone else how much he gets into the explosives?” Ryan asked.

  “I need a moment alone with you two,” Ethan said, gesturing toward Ryan and Gabriel.

  The rest of the Guardians filed out, leaving Ethan alone with Gabriel and Ryan.

  “We need to talk,” Ethan said. “I need to know that I can count on both of you.”

  Ryan made a face. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Gabriel nodded. “You’re worried that I’ll want to kill him.”

  “Do you?” Ethan asked.

  “Way to be direct,” Ryan sighed.

  “No,” Gabriel said. “He’s right, he needs to know, you want me to promise that I won’t kill him, right?”

  “I’d like that, yeah,” Ethan nodded. “We need him back here alive if we have any hope of unraveling whatever it is that he and his partner are up too.”

  Gabriel stared at Ethan for a few heartbeats, silence hanging in the air.

  “I know what you want me to say,” Gabriel finally sighed. “But that wouldn’t be the truth, I know that we need him alive and I wish that I could tell you that I would be in total control of all my emotions but I can’t. I’ll do my best but that’s all that I can say.”

  Ethan stared at Gabriel for a long moment. “That’s good enough for me and you?”

  “Me?” Ryan asked.

  “You wanted to kill him earlier; I saw it in your eyes on the yacht,” Ethan snapped. “You damn near threw yourself off the boat to chase him down.”

  “It that was the mistake,” Ryan snapped.

  “Mistake or not you nearly got yourself killed,” Ethan said. “I need clear heads on this, Sainte-Pierre comes back alive, do you both understand me?”

  “Understood,” Ryan said.

  Gabriel only nodded.

  Ethan turned and left the lounge, leaving the two of them alone.

  “Throwing yourself off a boat to chase him down, huh?” Gabriel asked. “When did we step into the Twilight Zone and you suddenly become the irresponsible one?”

  “Momentary lapse of cool,” Ryan responded.

  “Ah, well that explains it then.”

  The rest of the time passed quickly enough, with the team busying themselves with preparations for the upcoming assault. For the most part, Ethan kept to himself, dealing with a lot of tactical ground work. Tony went around collecting pretty much every heavy duty piece of firepower that he could get his hands on while Elise worked logistics.

  Ethan had been right about one thing; part of Gabriel still wanted revenge in Sainte-Pierre for what he had put him through. Everyone had been asking about his torture at the hands of the demon but Gabriel had declined to commit on it. It wasn’t an experience that he felt like reliving in any form. He grabbed another set of Heat round clips and slid them into place on part of his armor.

  “Hey man,” Cody said, entering the armory. “You ready for this?”

  “Not really,” Gabriel sighed.

  “Look,” Cody said, placing his hands on Gabriel’s shoulders. “You’re pretty much a bloody badass or you wouldn’t have lasted this long just relax and you’ll do fine, after all you did kill a demon while the rest of us were running around in circles.”

  Gabriel gave a slight snort of laughter at that comment. “I still think that a large part of that was luck.”

  “Aye,” Cody nodded, letting go of Gabriel. “It might have been but you kicked arse regardless. Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure,” Gabriel shrugged.

  “Why did you step in back at school?”

  Gabriel slid Aequitas back into its scabbard. “I guess I don’t really know, something inside me snapped when I saw you getting picked on...like something had been building for a long time. I guess I just thought that I should try and make a difference.”

  “You certainly have,” Cody smiled.

  “Thanks,” Gabriel smiled.

  Gabriel wanted to believe in the confidence that Cody and the rest of the team had in him but the truth of the matter was that he didn’t really know how he was going to react when he came up against Sainte-Pierre again.

  “Come on,” Cody said, slapping him on the back. “Let’s get to work.”

  “Looks like they have the area pretty heavily guarded,” Tony said, looking through his NVGs. “I count five humans on the upper wall and at least half a dozen Darklings around the base of the wall. No Unkari though.”

  “At least we might be able to avoid all the hand to hand then,” Marissa tossed in.

  “Bah!” Tony snapped. “Where would the fun be in that?”

  Elise, Everett, Tony, and Marissa were stationed on a small ridge, overlooking the large stone structure below. So far they had gone un-noticed, although that was about to change. Their team was to make sure that they were noticed so that Ethan, Ryan, Cody, and Gabriel could scale the wall on the opposite side and capture their quarry.

  The ridge that they were currently situated on was two hundred meters or so from the castle wall. They had yet to encounter any resistance.

  “I’m not seeing anything on thermals or infrared spectrum,” Tony remarked, setting down his NVGs. “Anything magical?”

  Everett shook his head.

  “Looks like it’s time to get this party started.”

  “Are you going to be able to throw those things that far?” Everett asked, gesturing toward the large black ammo case that Tony had next to him.

  “I’m not going to throw them,” Tony smiled. He turned around and grabbed what appeared to be a launcher of some sort. “I modified the grenades to be fired from a launcher, pretty cool, right?”

  “I cannot believe that you did that,” Everett sighed. “You know how dangerous that stuff is and you want to fire it out of a rocket launcher?”

  Tony just shrugged.

  “I hate it when you do that,” Everett huffed.

  “Are you ready?” Elise asked, looking over at Marissa. Her Lancer sniper rifle was set up and sighted in, ready to rain death down on the unsuspecting enemy below. She gave Elise a thumbs up.

  “Alright Tony,” Elise said. “Light’em up.”

  Tony grinned from ear to ear. He moved to a kneeling position and grabbed the launcher and flipped open the ammo case. The Greek Fire Grenades weren’t all that large, about as big around as baseballs. They looked like they were made of glass, encasing a swirling green flame within.

  “Fire in the hole!”

  The launcher bucked and sent its mythical payload toward the wall. It impacted a few seconds later with a flash and tore into the wall with enough force to rip apart mortar and stone. A column of fire shot skyward from the impact, lighting up the night sky momentarily. The blast scattered flaming Darklings all around the area.

  “Wow,” Tony said. “That was awesome!”

  “It appeared to get their attention,” Elise nodded.

  The smoke had started to clear, allowing them a clear view of the damage that the grenade had done. There was a six meter by six meter hole; the edges still alight with flame that penetrated all the way through to the inner courtyard. No one that had been present before Tony launched the grenade remained.

  “Here they come,” Marissa reported. “Darklings and Unkari, they’re heavily armed.”

  Tony loaded another grenade and fired, shredding another knot of Darklings and sending several of the Unkari bouncing off the walls engulfed in the eerie green fire.

  “Tony, Marissa, keep up the pressure and try and not kill us,” Elise ordered. “Everett, we’ll deal with the Unkari.”

  Elise and Everett got to their feet and leapt off the ridge. It was only a twenty foot drop that they handled with ease, as soon as they hit the ground they took off running toward the cas
tle. Tony switched to his assault rifle and along with Marissa was raining down Heat rounds on the masses of Darklings that continued to pour through the destroyed section of the wall.

  There was no way that you could have missed the explosion or the sound it made in the dark of night. It actually caused Gabriel to jump slightly, which gave everyone else he was with reason to smile. The column of fire that rocketed skyward was impressive to say the least.

  “I’d say that’s our cue,” Ryan nodded.

  They fired the grappling guys that they had been outfitted with for this particular mission and slowly started to ascend the vertical wall. Cody was the first to go over the top, seconds later they heard a muffled thump. When Gabriel climbed over the wall he looked down to see one Unkari lying dead on the top of the wall, an arrow protruding from his forehead.

  Ethan motioned them forward, Ryan taking point. They knew that had to travel down at least one more level before they reached the tower that they were pretty sure Sainte-Pierre was hiding. The first several meters were missing guards of any sort, at least until the door at the top of the tower opened and the next patrol came rushing out, no doubt to check the walls for another other attacks.

  The first Darkling dropped dead as Cody’s arrow pierced its throat. The second and third Darklings took Heat rounds through the chest as Gabriel and Ethan opened fire and by then they realized that they might have been in trouble. They settled for rushing forward, trying to swarm the Guardians.

  Ryan grabbed Reaper off his back and fired, blasting through two Darklings and sending them tumbling over the edge. Glowing bullets whizzed around him, slamming into more of the oncoming bodies and tearing through them. Several arrows flew by as well; perfect kill shots on every target that they hit.

  Another explosion echoed through the night.

  “Get down!” Cody shouted.

  Everyone hit the deck as Cody fired another arrow, this time the arrow slammed into the first Darkling, unleashing a powerful explosions that not only shredded bodies but hurled most of them off the top of the wall, sending them raining down into the courtyard below. The remaining Darklings tried to retreat but Ryan made short work of them with Reaper.

  “I’d say we are getting closer,” Cody said, as they started to make their way toward the door again.

  Ryan blew the door off its hinges with a blast from Reaper, allowing the access to the inside and a large room with another staircase on the other side. Darkling’s came boiling out of the staircase, rushing toward the intruders, armed with a variety of melee weapons. The Guardian’s didn’t waste any time in opening fire, cutting down most before they even got close.

  “We must be getting close!” Cody yelled.

  One of the Darklings had made it past the barrage of rounds and leapt toward Cody, only to have its neck broken as Cody slammed his bow into him the moment that he landed. Ryan still had Reaper out but both Ethan and Gabriel had switched to not only their pistols but their melee weapons as well.

  More movement on the stairwell presented a new set of targets, heavily armed Unkari. The room didn’t offer much in the way of projection, causing the Guardians to dive behind a half wall near the door. Bullets ripped into the stone, sending chips flying off in all directions.

  “Suggestions?” Gabriel asked.

  Ryan aimed Reaper over the edge and fired blindly a few times, discouraging any of the Darklings from getting closer, though it wouldn’t do much to deter the Unkari from approaching. Cody popped up and fired off another explosive arrow, blowing apart several more Darklings.

  “They’ve got us pinned,” Gabriel snapped.

  “Thank you captain obvious!” Ethan snapped, firing blinding again.

  “Rush them?” Ryan offered. He fired off another series of shots with Reaper. “Our armor will protect us from any body shots as long as they don’t hit us in the head...”

  “Well, that’s an encouraging thought,” Gabriel grumbled.

  “I’m all ears if you have any better ideas,” Ethan responded.

  Gabriel shook his head; he knew that they had to get moving. The other team wouldn’t be able to keep up the pressure for long, especially since it appeared that a lot of the Darklings were surging toward their position at an alarming rate. They needed to find Sainte-Pierre and get him out of there before things got too out of hand.

  “Ready?” Ethan asked.

  They all nodded and vaulted over the wall, charging toward the Unkari and the Darklings on the other side of the room. The Unkari were good but the Guardians were better, two dropped as Cody’s blessed metal arrows found their targets. Most of the Darklings that had rushed forward never got a chance to bring their melee weapons to bear; they were blasted apart by Reaper and the glowing bullets pouring out of Gabriel’s and Ethan’s pistols.

  The remaining Unkari surged forward, closing the distance between the charging Guardians and themselves in a manner of seconds. Instantly the fight was joined as immortal blades were unsheathed, throwing off sparks as they encountered the blessed metal weapons.

  Gabriel ducked under a slash, whirling Aequitas around he cleaved through two Darkling’s before blasting another in the head with his pistol. Ryan had since replaced Reaper with his daggers and was gliding through attacks, building on his momentum before unleashing a powerful killing blow. A flash of silver flew by Gabriel’s head, imbedding its self in the forehead of a charging Unkari; Ethan was hacking his way through the thickening mass of Darkling’s and Unkari, still occasionally firing his pistol.

  “They’re slowing us down!” Ryan yelled, he caught a blow to the face and responded by bringing his knee slamming up into the Unkari’s stomach. The demon doubled over and Ryan used his daggers to slam them down through the Unkari’s neck.

  “He’s right!” Cody shouted, he fired another arrow and took down a Darkling a mere three feet from him. He whipped around, grabbing an arrow from his quiver and stabbed an approaching Unkari in the heart. He kicked the dead demon off the arrow, notched it and buried it in another approaching demon.

  “Bloody wankers won’t stop until we’re all dead!”

  “Speak freaking English,” Ethan snapped. He knocked sent an Unkari sprawling with a powerful kick before spinning around to stab through the chest of an attacking Darkling.

  “He’s right,” Ryan snapped upper cutting another Unkari. The Unkari responded by lashing out with a series of vicious strikes that Ryan blocked before shattering the demon’s knee with a well-placed kick. The Unkari went down, Ryan dragging Daylighter across the demon’s throat as it fell.

  They were in danger of being overrun and Ethan was starting to think that this plan might have just been insane after all. He dodged another blow and then went back on the offensive, hacking through Darkling and Unkari alike.

  Elise’s axes whistled through the air, cleaving through both Darklings and Unkari. Red lances of lead marked the paths of Heat rounds, smashing through the Darklings and knocking Unkari to the ground.

  “Do you think that they got inside?” Everett asked, as he sent several Darklings hurtling backwards with a rippling sphere of telekinetic energy.

  “I hope so!” Elise yelled, so that she could be heard over the din of battle. “Because I’m not sure how much longer we are going to be able to keep this up.”

  As she spoke, another grenade blasted the air, hitting the tower to the nearest of their position. The tower exploded in a blast of green fire and smoke, sending debris raining down on the battlefield.

  “Is he trying to kill us!”

  “I think he’s just trying to keep the focus on this side,” Everett stated. His staff whirled around, slamming into several Darklings and sending them flying. “But you’re right about one thing, we can’t keep this up forever.”

  A Darkling charging toward them dropped, a Heat round searing through its head. A few seconds later the sounds of Tony’s rifle could be heard, taking down a whole knot of newly arrived Darklings.

  Everett created
a glyph in the air in front of him and then sent it flying forward, instantly setting on fire everything that it touched. It exploded a few moments later, ripping apart a group of Darklings.

  “Uh oh,” Everett said, slamming his staff into another Darkling. “Elise, we might have a tad bit of a problem developing here.”

  “What are you talking about” Elise snapped, her axe slicing through an Unkari.

  Everett pointed; lumbering through the hole in the wall that Tony blown earlier came a war golem.

  “Where in the hell did he dig up one of those things?” Elise snapped. “I thought that they were all under our control?”

  “Apparently not,” Everett shrugged.

  The war golem was eleven feet tall and looked like some sort of ancient machine; it had thick mismatched metal plates, pistons, gears, and all sorts of odd looking components. Steam hissed from several seams and the glowing red eyes flickered occasionally. The Darklings and Unkari had retreated slightly, allowing the war golem a place to maneuver.

  “It doesn’t look like it has any outside weaponry...”

  Even as Everett spoke those words, Elise knew that it was a mistake. The golem raised his hands, sending blue lightning bolts arcing forward. Everett and Elise dove to the side, avoiding the incoming attack as the bolts tore into the ground. They left nothing but scorched earth behind.

  “I’d say that qualifies as a weapon,” Elise snapped.

  Sparks exploded over the golem as Tony and Marissa redirected their fire, sending a barrage of Heat rounds into the target. The rounds didn’t penetrate the armor, although it did a good job of leaving smoking dents behind. Everett and Elise took that as their cue to sprint back toward the ridge, as Tony and Marissa continued firing.

  “Tony, do you have any of those grenades left?” Elise asked, over the com channel.

  “Nope,” Tony responded. “I only brought three of them, heads up we’re coming down to you!”

  Tony and Marissa leapt off the ridge and landed in a crouch, unloading another barrage of fire from their weapons. The golem reared back, bringing its arm up to block the incoming attack, even though the rounds did little to its armored skin.