by C E Johnson
“Machine guns, rifles, and mortars are effective in intermediate range,” Seth began. The Black-blade vampire swallowed hard. “They’ll eat us up if our shields fail, but once we reach them, we will destroy them.” Showing his steadfast determination, Seth clenched his jaw. “They have no defense against our strengths in close range fighting.”
Ullr sighed. He made a gesture to a blue magician ten feet away, and the blue mage rushed to his side. The man was out of breath with the small exertion, and his face was red. He was soaked with perspiration. “Can you adequately shield us?” Ullr asked the blue warily.
“I have a full clan of blue magicians,” the man blurted. He didn’t sound confident. He wiped his face with the back of his hand, but the sweat continued to flow unabated. “We will do all we can, shade Ullr.” His face was taut with concern.
“That’s all I can ask,” Ullr said calmly. He was dying to call in a wyvern for aerial reconnaissance, but then they would lose the element of surprise. Besides, he was sure the beast would be targeted and shot down too quickly. “I want the goblins to use crossbows for the initial attack. Three rows. As one row reloads, the next row will fire in rapid progression until the last warriors fire.” Ullr fingered his sword hilt. “Seth, do you think the bolts will be effective?”
Seth nodded. “Crossbow bolts will penetrate their Kevlar vests because the tips are non-deforming. We’ll use the broadheads with four blades.”
Ullr felt some reassurance that at least bolts would work well against the enemy. He attempted to put iron in his words. “You both know what we’re here for. Our mission is to evaluate if our magicians can protect us from bullets.” Ullr inclined his head toward the blue mage. “Do you have any advice for me concerning your shield?”
The magician gulped and wiped his weeping forehead one more time. “I don’t think you should spread our forces out too wide or the shield may be more difficult for my blues to create and maintain.”
Ullr hadn’t thought about that tactic. “Seth, pass that on to our troops. Stay close together.” The blue magician gave a faint smile, and Ullr was proud he had consulted his magician’s knowledge instead of planning a bull-headed approach like in his old days. Seth started to move, but Ullr held up a hand to slow him so he could address him one more time. “After the third round of bolts, I want our shades, were-creatures, and vampires to descend with swords. I don’t want any of our troops using firearms. The crossbowmen may target anyone using such weapons. It will allow us to know our enemy in the chaos of the fight.”
Seth inclined his head. “As you wish, commander Ullr.” He went to prepare the attack.
Ullr turned his attention back to his enemies. Teeth gritted and silent as a snake, he crept closer to his goblin spy patrol until he could also hear voices. The goblins immediately made way for him allowing Ullr the closest position. Listening to the enemy servicemen just over the hill, he marveled that they were talking in such loud voices. They obviously weren’t worried about anyone attempting to sneak up on them right now.
“Seal Team and Rangers, form up! Attention!” There was the sound of enemy troops organizing, boots clicking together. “Parade rest!” Ullr could hear boots sliding across the sand. The enemy commander cleared his throat and began to speak in a booming voice, “I want to appraise you of our situation. We’ve lost all communication with our command center. There will be no aerial support and no tanks coming to help us. We’re on our own.”
“Captain Casford, do you think we should head back?” The inquiring male voice was hesitant, but tenacious and persistent. “Something’s very wrong. We’ve been out of communication with base command and with our other squads for twelve hours. Someone should have contacted us in some manner by now.” There was a grumbling assent by the other troops. “Is our mission still vital?” The inquisitive voice questioned his commander.
“The cause of our communication loss could be related to this site that we are going to attack,” Captain Casford answered with an edge of anger and irritation in his tone. “If we’re successful, we may disable the blocking mechanism.” He coughed to clear his throat and continued in a stronger, more resolute voice, “I want to proceed. If conditions deteriorate, we’ll retreat to this position. Ready your body armor. You can leave all radio headsets and inoperative electrical devices if you don’t want the extra weight.”
Their men going into battle are already defeated, Ullr thought with some satisfaction. They don’t want to fight. Three rows of goblins bearing crossbows inched their way up to Ullr on lurking tiptoe. They wound their weapons and placed their quarrels. The mechanisms were clean and gleaming in the sunlight. Iscar had spared no expense at constructing the most lethal weapons possible in his factories. The wide and squat goblins wore sand-colored boiled leather and long cloaks with gleaming warhelms while carrying battle axes at their belts.
“Vampires, over here,” Seth ordered just loud enough for the half-deads to hear him, but not loud enough for the enemy. He pointed to a space near the base of the sand dune. Ullr’s vampires formed in ranks on each side of the sneaking archers. Each of these solemn half-deads wore a longsword, and they had one hand wrapped around the hilt of their sharp silver blades. The vampires favored bits of plate mail on their armor like Seth, and each had individual insignias on their breastplates. The steel sparkled like dark diamonds in the powerful sun.
Ullr knew where he wanted the magicians to initially cast their shield spell. Wordlessly, he pointed to an area behind the goblins, and the clan of blue magicians assembled. Wearing long robes even in the heat with a black dragon emblazoned on their chests, the magicians appeared so different from his other warriors. Each had at least one blue magestone which they bounced in their hands or ran through their fingers nervously. The blue stones gave off a rich luster, smooth and unblemished, in the light of the sun.
“Were-creatures,” Seth mouthed. Ullr’s lieutenant was all about war. He kept moving and organizing, pointing to where the beasts were to convene. They mobilized, collecting further to the periphery of the attack group as directed. Fur unmoving, the were-creatures sat at attention with ears pricked forward. The wind was still, all but stopped, and there wasn’t a hint of a breeze.
Lastly, the shades silently slunk forward and ringed Ullr in a protective fashion. Wearing loose-fitting pants and either a dark fabric tunic or no shirt at all, they carried either swords or quarterstaffs, and the majority had removed their armor. Ullr nodded first to his shade brethren, appreciative of their support, before addressing the entire group in a low voice that wouldn’t carry to the warriors on the other side of the sand. “We will crush our enemy,” Ullr began. He tried to sound more confident than he felt. He inhaled deeply, attempting to focus on the sweet heady smell of steel and leather, rather than the pungent fetid scent of his malodorous goblins. “Our goblins will fire in rapid succession. Then we will descend in a wave of dark death.” The goblins raised their right hand as a group and made fists to Ullr. Nodding grimly to the goblins, Ullr next turned to face the magicians. “You must start your shield just after the first round of bolts. Don’t stop your shield until you faint from exhaustion. We have to determine the effect of bullets on your strongest spells.” The magicians nodded while fidgeting uncomfortably, their own rank aroma of fear began to exude from their robes. One dropped his bluestone and stooped to pick it up, his hand shaking.
“And us?” the leader of the wolves asked in a deep growl. His mouth was parted, and his canines glistened sharp as steel.
“Once the third wave of bolts has flown, you may attack at will,” Ullr promised them. He studied the massive beasts with their red eyes that glowed crimson in the blaring light. The wolves nodded as one. Ullr whirled to address several vampires holding warhorns. “I want your instruments to sound after the last bolt has ended its flight into flesh. Let us show them our strength and blast fear into their hearts.”
“We’re ready,” Seth said. There was a visible jolt of electricity formin
g in Seth as he prepared for battle. “Lead us to victory, shade Ullr,” he urged.
Ullr raised his own fist to his troops. Then he crept forward with his goblin crossbowmen on his heels. The rest of his soldiers followed. He hoped the creak of steel wouldn’t alert the enemy too early. Smiling to himself, Ullr listened to the earthlings who were still bickering even as the goblins sighted their crossbows.
“Should we send scouts back to our home base?” A ranger asked Captain Casford with obvious worry lacing his words. “We might want to find out the status of our command post and see if they can send reinforcements.”
“Son, you’ve trained for years.” There was exasperation in the captain’s voice, and disgust vibrating off him in waves. “Don’t be scared. We can demolish anything the enemy sends at us.” Captain Casford was trying to sound confident, but Ullr could hear a new underlying concern beginning to bite into his words as the complaints continued to rain upon him. His team had never fought without the advantage of their sophisticated weaponry, and they sounded incredibly off their game.
Feeling more and more confident, Ullr signaled his crossbowmen to advance. His first row of goblins moved onto the ridge of sand, kneeled, and made sure their crossbows were steadied.
“What’s that up there?” A voice rose from the enemy ranks, calling to Captain Casford.
Ullr knew he had been spotted. He could hear the panic rising in the chests of his enemy. He dropped his hand and a score of bolts were launched before the captain could answer. Instead of new questions to Captain Casford, screams and curses now rose in the air around their confused leader. The sand hungrily drank the crimson earthling blood that the bolts had spilled. The magicians whispered their spells, and Ullr could see a blush of blue form around his troops. Raising and lowering his hand again, a second round of bolts whispered of death as they collided with new targets with satisfying thuds. Ullr raised and lowered his hand a final time, and new cries of pain drifted to his ears on the wind. He wished he could continue pounding the enemy with bolts, but that would defeat the purpose of his mission. “Attack!” he roared.
And attack the half-deads did. Warrior men-at-arms flowed side-by-side, descending down the dune in a screaming wave of steel. The air became filled with noise and bullets, but Ullr never slowed his own mad headlong rush. His well-oiled sword sang to him as it leapt from its scabbard. There was no shocking impact of bullets. He glanced to each side. Not one of my troops has fallen, he thought to himself in shock. The shield of the magicians was holding.
“Who are you?” Captain Casford roared, his eyes incredulous. He fired, unloading a pistol at Ullr, but the shield deflected the course of the captain’s bullets. In full battle-mode, running on pure instinct, Ullr killed the officer without a second thought. As Casford’s severed head fell to the ground, Ullr inhaled the dead man’s weak non-magician magus. Like a cool drink on a hot day, Ullr felt instantly refreshed. Raising his sword again, Ullr didn’t slow his movements. Twirling in a deadly dance against two more servicemen, Ullr now knew their names and the fighting characteristics of his opponents through his rapid assimilation of Casford’s surface thoughts. Spirits and confidence soaring, Ullr continued to lead the assault. The earthlings had no defense against his sword skills or the proficiency of his men. They raised pitiful arms against half-dead blades, but bone couldn’t stop steel. The already blood-soaked ground was drenched in further shades of dark red as chaos rocked the minds of the enemy infantry. Ruling supreme, the ancient art-form of sword and spear prevailed. Bullets had been rendered obsolete. Half-dead steel descended time and again in deadly arcs and savage blows. Wounded soldiers moaned as the weapons cut like butter through Kevlar armor. This was no contest. Ullr sucked in more of the fragments of magus released by the death of the earthling madai. He tasted their knowledge, their tactics, and their fear.
* * * Iscar * * *
Iscar was in his control room in Saudi Arabia. He was studying the effects of his missiles which had detonated in a precise pattern over all of the populated regions of the world. The nuclear devices on the rockets had basically taken electronics off the majority of the Earth.
At least your electronics are still working, Tengu whispered. Iscar’s mega-bat bondsmate was hanging upside down from a perch in the corner of the room. Your planning protected our hardware.
Thank goodness, Iscar thought. The sophisticated circuitry network in his massive underground bunker was still functioning because of the electronic warfare technicians he had employed. They had hardened portions of his system to survive the pulse in elaborate Faraday cages. Grounded metal screens had been positioned around his equipment to form a force field to distribute the radiation to protect against the electromagnetic surges. Iscar glanced from his computer screens to Brytam. Her jet-black hair was delicately swaying on her smooth, tanned shoulders, standing out in stark contrast to her snow-white aura which he pulled into view. As she appeared too focused on her keyboard and the monitor in front of her, he didn’t think she had yet noticed him looking at her.
She knows you’re studying her, Tengu whispered in his mind. Tengu watched everything. She’s playing with you.
I’m waiting for her to look at me. Sometimes I feel lost in her eyes, Iscar whispered back. She has small flecks of white floating in her brown irises, and they mesmerize me. At that moment, as if she could hear his thoughts better than his bondsmate, Brytam looked up from her work.
“You appear dry and parched, my prince,” Brytam said softly as she gave Iscar a coy wink with her soft brown orbs that could hypnotize him in a second. Pure and sultry, her voice was an instrument of the gods. He could scarcely believe someone who was so intelligent and calculating could still look as sweet and innocent as a doe. Brytam was his second in command. She was dressed in a pale cream linen dress with barely-there straps, and over-the-knee boots of a dark suede embellished with tiny silver beads and glass crystals. She wore a bracelet on each wrist with hundreds of magestone fragments embedded in gold and platinum. Her black hair, straight filaments of polished obsidian, continued its dance. There was a luster to her darkness reminding him of a moonless night. She was close to his side along with Marcus Tate, his assistant. Beside Marcus was Marcus’ bondsmate, a massive cave lion over eight feet long with a thick brown mane and muscles stacked upon muscles.
“Would you like water, sir?” Ullr asked.
Iscar startled at the sound of Ullr’s voice. His shade bodyguard had surprised him. He had been so focused on Brytam that his half-dead had seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Ullr was holding a tray of food and drinks. “I guess,” Iscar mumbled, embarrassed at his momentary fright.
“Here you are, sir,” Ullr crowed. Iscar raised a brow as he stared at the gleeful half-dead shade. Ullr was acting in an uncharacteristic manner. Although he was speaking formally, there was an underlying hint of good cheer in his words as if he were barely containing a wonderful secret.
“You’re the head of my warriors, not my steward. Why are you serving me food and drink?” Iscar asked in confusion. He still felt off-balance mentally after being caught unawares.
Holding out a glass to Iscar, Ullr gave Iscar a half-grin and continued speaking, “We’re keeping strict security around your control room today, so it appears as if I’m to be not only your warlord, but also your waiter.”
“Thank you,” Iscar said, relaxing by degrees. Nodding to his hardened half-dead general, he accepted the glass with a more composed chuckle. Ullr filled the glass from a crystal pitcher. There were deep cuts on Ullr’s arm that Iscar couldn’t help but notice.
“Are you injured?” Iscar pointed out the lacerations on his battle chief. “Do you need a green to heal you?”
“I’m fine sir,” Ullr scoffed with a laugh, brushing away Iscar’s hand. “You know magic doesn’t work very well on half-deads. I’d rather the dark rejuvenators save their magus for those more in need.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard you laugh before, Ullr.” Iscar
stared at his general in amazement. Ullr was always hard as nails, but he was acting downright giddy. “Has Maaca come back into our fold?” Iscar asked. He was teasing, knowing of Ullr’s infatuation.
Ullr momentarily scowled at Iscar. “My joy has nothing to do with Maaca.” His face then transformed from its cursory dark look back into elation and happiness. “I think everything’s going to work out with this war of yours.” He flashed Iscar another smile before turning to regard Brytam. “We had stunning success today.” Giving Brytam a thumbs up sign, he looked like a boy who had just been given his first piece of candy.
“Wonderful,” Brytam exclaimed. She clapped her hands together. “Tell me all about it, Ullr.” Iscar adored how Brytam’s face lit up when she was happy. There was always a cheerful mirth in her soul.
“I’d be happy to,” Ullr said as he set down the pitcher on the table. “Are you sure you’re ready for the full report?” he asked. Brytam nodded, giggling at Ullr’s uncharacteristic demeanor. Ullr beamed and continued. “I personally guided a team out to deal with the Earth soldiers who were so close, they were almost on our doorstep this morning.”
“This morning you fought against armed military forces?” Marcus sputtered. “Bullets, grenades, and rockets?”
Ullr nodded. “The enemy was incredibly confused and disorganized by our tactics.” He paused a moment before saying simply, “We crushed them.”
“Tell me more about the bullets.” Brytam requested. Appearing as if she were attempting to hide her own wide smile, she tapped a finger on her chin while pursing her lips. “Did our magicians’ shields have any problems?”
“No, they performed just as you suggested.” Ullr inclined his head toward Brytam. “The magicians say the bullets are actually much easier to deflect compared to arrows. The projectiles slid off their shields. You can study the images of the conflict for yourselves, but I predict one magician can shield over ten half-deads from firearms. Our blue clan protected my squad from injury by scores of enemy rifles and machine guns.”
