Oriel turned his face upward, like a dog sniffing the breeze.
“We may not have to,” the Fae woman said. “Try your cell phone.”
I pulled out my phone and called Frankie. She picked up on the second ring. “Where are you?”
“Right outside the resort’s fence,” I replied. “I can see the rear of the hotel from here. Try to contact someone inside.”
“Just a minute.”
I heard voices in the background, and then a couple of minutes later, Frankie said, “Yes, we can call in and they can call out. You need to get the hell out of there.”
“Okay. Any reason why?”
“The military is going to start launching airstrikes on the area around the hotel in about fifteen minutes. You either need to leave, or go inside.”
“Fat chance of that,” I said. “The Knights have been trying to get inside for hours. Frankie, the Knights shot down at least one helicopter that I saw.”
“They won’t be shooting down jets firing missiles from several miles away.”
“Right. Are you guys all right?”
Frankie snorted. “For now. The Knights are making a major push tonight—here, in New York, and a couple of other places. The military is pushing back hard. We fought off one attack tonight—us and some of the other paranormals staying in our hotel. I think we surprised the Knights. They seemed to expect that the ley line mess would disable us. The important thing is for you to get out of there. You don’t have much time.”
I hung up and turned to Oriel and McGregor, who were standing close waiting for me to finish. The look on Oriel’s face told me that he had heard Frankie’s side of the conversation.
“Airstrikes,” I announced. “We have about ten minutes to clear the area before the missiles start falling.”
The Fae all turned to face me, then looked at each other. They immediately took off, back the way we had come.
I ran full-out, thankful that I kept in shape, but lost sight of all the Fae except Oriel in the first minute. The glow of magic—lightning, fireballs, energy attacks—reflecting off the clouds above provided enough light to see the trail, which was a blessing.
We passed the large house with its stables, but then Oriel directed us to turn left.
“The Knights have found our car,” he said. “We need to go this way.”
I wondered how the Fae communicated, but that wasn’t the time to ask. Maybe he had set a ward or some alert on the car.
We threaded our way through a dense patch of woods and came out on the other side to find a pasture with a dozen horses. I hadn’t seen any activity in any of the houses we passed, but the horses had noticed the noise and weird lights from the magical battle. They were restless and gathered at the far end of the pasture. The Fae had already crossed the fence, and as I watched, the horses roused and began walking toward the redhaired woman.
“I wouldn’t want to leave these gentle ones where they might get caught up in the fighting,” the woman said with a grin as we approached her and the other Fae. She leaped onto the back of a white horse, and her friends each mounted a steed of their own.
“Do you know how to ride?” Oriel asked me.
“I was raised by people born in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,” I responded, moving toward a strong, young black horse with my hand held out so he could smell me. I scratched his forehead, then grabbed a handful of his mane and pulled myself onto his back. Wheeling him around, I saw the three Fae galloping toward the far fence. Their horses soared over the six-foot fence as though they had a little magical help.
“Well, that’s not something I’m going to try,” I said. “Where’s the gate?”
We left the gate open, and the riderless horses followed us out onto the dirt road. Oriel urged his mount to a gallop, and the rest of us followed him.
A few minutes later, four streaks of light passed over us, coming from the north. The ground shook from explosions near the conference hotel seconds later.
“There’s your airstrike,” McGregor said.
“I hope they’re accurate,” I said.
McGregor shook his head. “I doubt those missiles can get through the wards on the hotel. But the Knights’ personal shields won’t hold up against high explosives.”
About a minute later, four more streaks raced toward the hotel from a slightly different angle, followed by more explosions. The horses were truly freaked out, and it didn’t take any effort to keep them galloping away from the loud noises. Frankie was right about the planes. They were so far away that we never heard them. We saw only the missiles emerging from the clouds.
The dirt road curved away to the west, away from the battle and away from the highway. We had ridden for half an hour and slowed the horses to a walk when several Knights stepped out in the road in front of us. A quick glance over my shoulder showed more Knights slipping from the trees to block our retreat.
Oriel didn’t hesitate, spurring his horse forward and then leaping it over the line of men in front of us. The horse rose smoothly, well above the men’s heads, just like the horses ridden by the other Fae cleared the fence earlier.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have whatever magic they used, so I simply pulled as much power as I could from the ley lines and sent a strong burst ahead of me. Although the men were shielded, the powerful burst knocked some of them aside and others off their feet. I dug my heels in my horse’s side, and he leaped forward. McGregor’s horse and the others with us followed, scattering the Knights like chaff.
One of the Knights hurled a fireball, and a horse behind me screamed. That sent my mount racing ahead at a pace that had me hanging on for dear life. I finally managed to slow it down, but only a couple of minutes later, a flash of lights behind me caused me to look back. The lights of two vehicles were closing quickly.
“Ian!” I called.
“Aye, I see them. Let’s see if they manage to follow the horses through the trees.”
Oriel wheeled his horse around. “Let me go first, I think my night vision is a little better than yours.”
He turned his horse into the forest, and McGregor and I fell in line behind him. It was very dark, but I got my night-vision goggles out of my pack and slipped them on. By the time I heard the vehicles’ engines behind us, accompanied by car doors slamming, we were at least fifty yards off the road and moving at a good pace.
Lightning crackled, the electricity hitting trees, but the magic wielder continued to hurl bolts after us. Oriel picked up the pace, angling away from where we had left the road.
McGregor stopped and dismounted. I reached out and grabbed his horse’s mane, pouring power into my hand for enough strength to control her.
“What are you doing?” I hissed at him.
“I need to feel the earth. Go on, I’ll catch up with you.”
He got down on his hands and knees, digging his hands into the soft dirt of the forest floor. Realizing what he was going to do, I urged my horse forward, dragging his horse along.
I had gone about twenty or thirty yards when the vibration started. A low rumble began and grew louder. I jumped to the ground, grabbing a handful of mane in each hand and pulling the horses along. The rumble increased, and the ground began to shake. The horses panicked, but I pulled more ley line energy into my hands and forced the animals to obey me.
The ground suddenly heaved, up and down, as though I was riding waves on a boat, accompanied by a sharp cracking sound, louder than any of the explosions I had heard. The horses went crazy, and only my ley-energy strength kept me from losing my grip, but they lifted me off the ground, and my body swung wildly in the air between the two animals. It was only luck that they didn’t bash me against a tree.
McGregor appeared, grabbing me and one of the horses. He settled one horse, then practically tossed me onto the back of the other horse.
“Ride!” he swatted the horse on the ass, and it took off. I managed to hold on, ducking low on its neck and hoping I didn’t get swept off b
y a low-hanging branch. I did throw a quick glance back and saw McGregor on his horse behind me.
The ground was still unsettled, and the trees swayed as though blown about by a high wind, but there had been only a slight breeze before McGregor’s earthquake.
I emerged from the woods onto a paved road to find Oriel waiting for me.
“What the bloody hell did you do?” he asked me. I looked around and saw the pavement was cracked and warped.
“Not me, McGregor.”
At that moment, Ian rode out of the trees. “Go! Go!” he cried, spurring his mount past us.
There was a bridal path next to the road, and I steered my horse off the pavement and urged it to a canter. To my surprise, two of the riderless horses still followed us.
We rode for two or three miles, crossing a paved road at one point, with Oriel guiding us northwest. Every so often, I could hear jets passing low overhead, but I never saw any of them. We could still see the lights reflecting off the clouds in the direction of the hotel, and the sounds of explosions could still be heard faintly in the distance.
The sun was coming up when we reached a crossroads with a gas station and an all-night diner. That’s where we ran into a couple of armored assault vehicles, or AAVs, and about a dozen soldiers. They perked up their ears and paid attention when we rode in, and as two of them approached me, I understood why. One of them was a mage, and the other was a werewolf.
They swung their assault rifles to point in our direction, and I made very sure to keep my hands where they could see them. It was impossible to cast a personal shield while riding the horse bareback, but I gathered ley energy into a ball in front of me, hoping I could deflect any bullets they might fire.
“Dismount, and keep your hands where I can see them,” the soldier-mage with sergeant’s stripes on his sleeve said.
I threw my leg over and slid to the ground. As soon as I was free of the horse, I shielded.
“Turn around and put your hands on your head.”
We did as he directed, but I heard McGregor speak. “May I ask what this is about?”
“All Knights Magica are being held in protective custody,” the sergeant answered.
I heard someone approach me, then someone attempted to grab my right wrist. I twisted around, my leg sweeping the shifter-soldier’s feet out from under him. I caught him on his way down and pulled him in front of me as a shield, one arm across his chest and the other across his throat.
“We’re not Knights Magica,” I said. “We’re part of a local government delegation from Oregon.”
“Perhaps we can speak with one of your officers,” McGregor said. “I’m sure we can sort this misunderstanding. Erin, let the nice soldier go.”
“He’s kinda pretty. I was hoping I might keep him for a while.”
McGregor turned a disapproving gaze on me and tsked. I shrugged, let go of the soldier, and took a step back. He took a step of his own away from me, then whirled around, his eyes wide.
“See, no cross,” I said, brushing my hand across my breast. “I just look good in black.”
The sergeant keyed the comm unit on his chest and spoke into it. I couldn’t hear the conversation he had with the person on the other end but saw Oriel’s expression change to a smirk.
McGregor was also standing closer to the soldier, and said, “I’m Ian McGregor, my companions are Erin McLane, and Oriel. You can contact District Attorney Francis Jones at the Willard InterContinental Hotel to verify our credentials.”
The sergeant finished his conversation and turned to us. “Please come with me.”
We followed him, with the other soldier following us, to one of the armored vehicles where we found a man with captain’s bars on his shoulders. My eyes were drawn to the black patch each of the men had on the shoulder of his uniform—a silver circle of oak leaves with the rune Tyr—symbolizing warrior energy—and a stylized wolf’s head inside.
The captain was talking on a field radio, and we all waited for him to finish.
“So, you’re from the conference at the Fountainhead Resort?” he asked when he finally turned to us.
“Yes, although we ran into a problem trying to go back there last night,” Ian said.
He looked us all up and down. McGregor and I were obviously wearing matching uniforms, and glamour Oriel had donned made him look like a British explorer from an old-fashioned African safari movie.
“May I see your rubies?”
That was a question I didn’t expect. He was a mage, though, and unless the government had found another way to mask the effects of the corrupted ley lines, he had to have a ruby of his own simply to function.
McGregor and Oriel held up their hands, showing their rings, and I pulled my pendant out from under my shirt.
“And how did you come by those?” the captain asked.
“Honestly,” I replied. “I took it off a dead Knight’s sword.”
The sergeant barked out an inadvertent laugh, caught himself, and turned away from us. His captain scowled at him.
“Names?” the captain barked. I zeroed in on the nameplate he wore. Roberts, A.
We introduced ourselves, and the officer nodded. “We were told to look out for you.” He glanced around, taking in the horses. “Where did you pick those up?”
“They were pastured within the radius of the airstrikes,” Ian said, “so we rescued them. I’m sure the owners will be grateful, but have them give any rewards to charity. Really, it was the least we could do.”
Captain Roberts rolled his eyes, then asked, “You were close to the resort, then?”
“We reached the boundary, then were warned about the airstrikes,” Ian said. “We pulled out about ten minutes before the first jets arrived.”
Roberts questioned us for a few more minutes, then directed us to the diner. “Stay in there until I have transportation to take you back to the city,” he said. “We’ve ordered an evacuation for twenty miles around the hotel, but we have reports of bands of Knights attempting to escape the area, and I can’t guarantee any of the roads are safe.”
Chapter 12
The diner was working and full of customers. Oriel had cast illusions over McGregor and me and changed his own glamour before we entered the place, so we didn’t attract much attention.
We had to wait ten minutes for a table, but that gave me plenty of time to stare hungrily at people’s breakfasts and read the menu.
The conversations were all about the military’s presence and the unusual events of the previous night. The jets, the missiles, and the magical battle had not gone unnoticed. From what I could gather, at least half of the people in the café had evacuated from the area near the resort when the fighting started. It was pretty interesting to hear normal humans discuss magic, and it seemed the opinions as to whether the Knights were a force for good or evil were split pretty evenly.
I was about halfway through my banana-nut pancakes with a slab of ham when a fireball whooshed past the window and hit one of the AAVs. To my surprise, even though the fireball enveloped the vehicle, it didn’t catch fire. Obviously, it was protected by some kind of ward.
The gunner on top of the vehicle swiveled his gun around and cut loose with a round of machinegun fire. From where we were sitting, we couldn’t see the attackers, but fireballs, energy bursts, and lightning flew in both directions.
Then a couple of Knights pushed into the room. We were too far from the front door, and there were too many people between us and the door. The emergency exit at the back of the building would let out in the direction the attack was coming from.
My companions and I leaped up, and they followed me toward the kitchen. In contrast to the pandemonium in the outer room, the kitchen staff was calmly going about their business, since there weren’t any windows there. That ended when the kitchen’s outer door on the side of the building exploded, revealing a Knight with a drawn sword standing in the doorway.
“Can’t a girl even eat her breakfast in peace?
” I muttered as I hurled a ley missile at the intruder.
The cooks all dove for cover, and I drew my main gauche as I rushed forward to meet the Knight. The ley missile had staggered him, and he allowed me to close before he could react. I drew power from his shield into mine and ducked under his sword. My right hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat while I drove the dagger between his ribs.
He fell into the feet of the man behind him, who stepped back. A knife flew past my shoulder and buried itself in the Knight’s chest. I assumed it came from Oriel. The Hunter training McGregor and I had undergone taught us how to throw knives but discouraged doing so. Once you’ve thrown a weapon, you didn’t have it anymore.
I stepped on both bodies getting through the door and found four more Knights outside. Beyond them, a ball of white energy from someone out of my sight sped past toward the gas station where the soldiers’ vehicles were parked. I hoped they had considered extending the wards around their AAVs to encompass the gas station and its underground tanks.
The closest Knight was ready for me, and my long dagger was at a significant disadvantage against his sword. I ducked under his cut and rolled past him, leaving him facing McGregor. He managed to block Ian’s first strike, but I distracted him by stabbing him in the back of his thigh. His leg buckled, and my friend’s sword pierced him below the breastbone.
I unhooked the sword strapped to my back and drew it as it dropped to my side. Rising to my feet, I met the next Knight with blades in both of my hands. It didn’t matter, as Oriel—invisible, of course—stepped between us and slit the man’s throat.
Turning back, I found McGregor facing two Knights, but one of them was distracted, staring at his buddy with the throat wound, who was crumpling to the ground. I took advantage of that to move against him.
The Knight blocked my low cut at his waist, and our swords rang almost simultaneously with the sound of two swords striking to my left. I circled to my right, and the man pivoted to keep me in front of him. Then one of his knees buckled, and as he fought to maintain his balance, I stepped forward and ran him through. The point of a long dagger emerged from his neck at the same time.
Knights Magica: An Urban Fantasy (Rosie O'Grady's Paranormal Bar and Grill Book 5) Page 9
