Times Like These

  Times Like These

  Published by Jan Stryvant

  Copyright 2019 Jan Stryvant

  Copyright Jan Stryvant 2019

  Cover Credits: eBook Launch (http://ebooklaunch.com/)

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author. The material in this story may feature graphic depictions of a sexual or adult nature and is intended for a mature audience only. All characters in this story are fictional and of the legal age of consent for any activities they engage in. Any resemblance between characters, places, or things in this story, and people living or dead, actual places, or events, is purely coincidental. It's fiction; I made it up.

  Distractions

  Sean looked at the fort through his binoculars. "Well, at least it took them a month," he said with a sigh.

  "Still," Chad said with a grumble, "if we hadn't shot the barrels out of all our artillery pieces, we might have held them off a few more weeks!"

  Sean shook his head and snorted. "I doubt it. Sooner or later, they were going to start pushing their mages and stuff through the gateway and start erecting magical barriers."

  Sean watched as a shell came in and exploded against the barrier that was now a hundred feet above the fort. All it was now was an annoyance to the djevels working on the fort, if that.

  "Why are you still shelling them, anyway?"

  "Just to let them know we're still here. Also, if for any reason it falls or they drop it, we'll know immediately and take advantage of it. My magic user consultants tell me the shield does take damage, so if they don't keep repairing it, eventually it'll be destroyed."

  Sean nodded and looked a bit closer at the construction.

  "I wonder if they're going to try and enclose the gateway?"

  Chad shrugged. "I don't see what the point of that would be. Do we know for sure just how big it will get?"

  "About a hundred yards from side to side."

  "Well then, won't they have to build a ramp up to the middle to get full use of it?"

  Sean thought about that. If it was him, he'd build four or five ramps, all at different levels, to get the best movement through the gateway.

  "You know what?" Sean said, pulling the binoculars away from his face and looking over at Chad. "I have no idea. Yeah, I'd think they'd be doing something, but so far they're not. I'd guess they do on the other side, because the djevels coming out of it seem to be coming out of the middle."

  "Maybe it's because they don't plan on sending anyone back?" Max suggested.

  Sean looked at Chad, who shrugged.

  "They're not the brightest or the most imaginative," Estrella offered. "Remember, they didn't actually build the gateways or the hellige points. They just took them over after they moved in and figured out how they worked."

  "How long do you think until they start pushing out of there?" Sean asked, changing the subject.

  Chad lead them back towards their waiting helicopter. "At the rate they're pouring out of there, I'm guessing as soon as the sun sets tonight."

  "Why then?"

  Chad shrugged. "Because that's when they've always tried to push out in the past?"

  "And nothing came out of the small gateway last night, right?"

  "Nothing. I'm thinking now that their fort at the main gateway is secure, they don't want to waste any more time with those. They just want to concentrate their efforts here."

  "Not the brightest idea if you ask me." Sean chuckled.

  "I'll take what I can get. Are you still set on launching an expedition through one?"

  "You're just mad because you can't come," Estrella replied.

  "Damn straight," Chad replied with a sour look on his face. "That's where the real fight is, after all."

  "Yeah, yeah," Sean sighed, "down boy..." Sean stopped then and looked around; something was going on, something magical.

  "You feel that?" Sean asked.

  "What?" the others asked, all looking at him.

  There was an explosion of magic then, and what Sean could only describe as hundreds of magical missiles came flying over the hill, tagging people and equipment everywhere. The helicopter was hit just below the main rotor, blowing off panels, throwing shrapnel up into the main rotor, and causing the whole thing to spin around and fall on its side, shedding blades and parts everywhere.

  Any piece of equipment larger than a suitcase was also hit, which destroyed all their unarmored vehicles, and a good deal of their larger electronic equipment. People were dropping everywhere, stunned or wounded by the missiles that hit them. Sean's shield sucked it up, but he found himself doling out healing spells to Estrella, Cali, Max, and Chad immediately to keep them from being stunned.

  Turning around, Sean ran back up to the top of the hill to see what was going on as the sound of a thousand voices roaring came from the gateway.

  Dropping prone as he reached the top, he could see there was now a large demon of a type he hadn't seen before standing at the front of the fort as the gates of the fort opened. Hundreds of gnashers and bonde with råge driving them were pouring out of the gates, along with the occasional ridder or biskop in the group.

  "What the hell is that?" he muttered

  "That's a demon lord," Estrella muttered back. "A fairly powerful one, too, possibly one of Prince Talt's if I don't miss my guess."

  "You know him then?"

  Estrella shook her head. "No, but the badge he's wearing on that chain around his neck looks like one of Talt's."

  Sean looked around at the defenders. A lot of them were down, thought he wasn't sure many, if any, of them were dead. That missile was a hell of a jolt, but he got the feeling it was more of a diversion than an actual attempt to kill everyone, and the way they were pouring out of the gates unchallenged showed it was working.

  "How many of those do you think he can throw?" Sean asked as he pulled his rifle around and started firing on the lord.

  "If he could do another one of those, he'd already have done it," Estrella said with a grunt as she started firing with her own rifle.

  Sean noticed that the lord had cast a shield on himself.

  "Well, he's obviously not tapped out yet," Sean said as he played the magic missile he'd gotten hit with back out of his buffer and targeted it at the lord. Interestingly enough, it penetrated the shield and caused the demon lord to turn and look right at where Sean was.

  "Uh-oh, I think he sees us!" Estrella said.

  "Good!" Sean growled and, leaping to his feet, he waved his rifle, then hosed down the area around the demon lord.

  "What?" Sean yelled down at the lord. "Did I hurt you?" Sean flicked out another missile. They weren't very powerful, but apparently they were annoying. He'd have to examine the spell when he got the time later tonight.

  "You will die, Lion!" the demon lord screeched and threw several more of those missile things at Sean, which his shield just absorbed and fed him the power behind them.

  "Oh? And just who's going to kill me? You? I don't think so, you low-level bonde-humping toad! Why don't you go get your daddy, Prince Talt? Or is he too much of coward to even show his face?"

  "What are you doing!" Estrella hissed from the ground.

  "Trying to get pig face to come up here where I can kill him," Sean whispered back.

  "He's a demon lord! And he's got an army!"

  "Well, I got one of those, too. Speaking of which," Sean looked over at Chad who was giving orders to a group of werewolves, each one sprinting off as soon as he moved to the next, "I thought you said 'tonight'?"

  "Tonight, this afternoon, what's a few hours between friends?" Chad grumbled and went back to telling his messengers what to do.

  Sean looked back at the demon lord who was still
screeching at him.

  "Hey!" Sean yelled and cast a flame strike down at him. The shield parted the strike, but the ridder that had moved up to stand beside the lord was suddenly immolated, along with a couple dozen bonde and their råge leader. "You just gonna sit down there and scream insults like a gnasher? Or are you gonna come up here and play?"

  Sean looked down at Estrella, "What's a good insult to a demon lord?"

  "What? Are you crazy?"

  "After all this time, you have to ask?" Cali grumbled. "Just tell him."

  "Challenge him. If he refuses, he will lose face in front of everyone."

  "Hey! Pigface! I challenge you!" Sean yelled.

  "You can't challenge me!" the demon lord screeched back.

  "Oh! You're scared! I get it! Well, that's okay. Maybe someone else then?"

  Sean was amazed at the transformation in the demon lord's attitude as it drew out its sword and charged up the hill.

  "Well, that hit the mark, Husband," Cali said with a laugh.

  "Talt doesn't like lords who are cowards," Estrella said, enlightening them. "With a jibe like that, if he doesn't fight now, he won't live long."

  "Great!" Sean said and tossed his rifle to Estrella as he drew his own sword. "Once I got him tied up, shoot him in the back."

  "That's a violation of the rules!" Estrella exclaimed.

  Sean grinned. "I know. Which is why I'm doing it. I cheat, remember?"

  Turning back to the charging demon lord, Sean watched as he came up the hill. Sean quickly checked his mana levels—all the multipliers helped with any casting he wanted to do, but his healing abilities didn't get that benefit, and of course took directly from his pool. He had a feeling he was probably going to need those abilities, so looking back at the lord, he cast one more flame strike, setting the bonde and the råge that were charging up behind him on fire. Cali, Estrella, Maxine, and the members of his security detail and the other soldiers who were no longer stunned were all shooting at the djevels following the lord up the hill.

  Chad was still busy passing orders, but he had a pistol in his hand, and every once in a while he would look up and shoot something, usually in the head.

  They clashed then, Sean and the demon lord. Sean was surprised that the lord tried to bowl him over, bulling into him. Sean parried the lord's initial thrust, then dropped his right shoulder and took the demon right in the chest, knocking him back.

  The lord was a foot taller than Sean, standing about nine-foot-tall, putting his throat right by Sean's muzzle, which he opened and, lunging up, he snapped his jaws closed, just barely missing.

  The demon lord was swearing at himself as he pushed back to gain fighting space, and Sean smiled, showing all his teeth. Of course Sean was berating himself as well; if he'd just been a little quicker, this fight would already be over.

  "I will end you, Lion! Your skull will decorate my hall!"

  "Yeah, how 'bout you come a little closer, pigface, and let me get a taste this time!" Sean growled back, then was quickly fighting for his life, as the lord didn't hesitate an instant and started in with his sword.

  Sean growled again, but this time he was concentrating completely on his sword work and not getting cut by the demon lord's blade. The lord was obviously a very accomplished swordsman, and Sean had to struggle just to keep up. He could see why Estrella had thought he was crazy for challenging him.

  Sean also had the disadvantage of having to give ground as the forces around him were pushed back, lest he find himself surrounded by djevels and they do to him what he'd told Estrella to do.

  But retreating as he fought did have its benefits. It put the demon lord higher than Sean as they first came down the hill, which allowed Sean to go for lower targets and limited the places he himself could be hit. True, his head was now that place, but it's easier to defend when the enemy's targets are limited.

  Twice Sean darted in to attack the lord's legs with his free hand. The first time he got his claws in and drew that black ichor they called blood. The second time he wasn't so lucky and got kicked in the face for his trouble.

  Sean popped a healing spell to deal with that and spent the next several minutes defending furiously. When it was done, they were on level ground, and from what he could see, Estrella and Cali were fighting furiously with their swords to either side of him, with more soldiers fanning out along the line to either side using either swords or rifles with bayonets.

  And still the fight went on. As they started to retreat up the rise behind them, Sean's head came level with the demon lord's, and with a flick of his hand, he cast one of those magic missiles, planted himself and lunged forward, scoring a hit on the lord, his first major one in this fight.

  Which caused the lord to redouble his efforts in a furious show of skill that almost cost Sean his head, and did earn him several cuts along his chest that were deep enough he had to pop another healing spell on himself or risk being caught out.

  Sean waited a while as they continued to fight, and then made the same hand gesture he'd used the previous times to cast that magic missile, but as the demon lord flinched, he immediately followed up with an actual spell, another lower-powered flame jet, that he played all around the lord, once again setting many of the djevel fighters to either side on fire.

  Sean then took two steps backwards. The lord immediately pursued, then stopped as he realized his mistake, and both Cali and Estrella struck him on the sides with their swords. As the lord tried to engage Estrella, Sean bulled forward and, striking the lord's blade to the side again, he dropped his shoulder and slammed into him again.

  Snapping forward with his jaws, this time he got them on the demon lord's neck, if just barely, and was able to hold on for several seconds while being struck with the pommel on the lord's sword as he tried to free himself from Sean's jaws.

  When he finally did free himself, Sean could see the lord was bleeding heavily from his neck as his line once again caught up with him, and Estrella and Cali had to go back to fighting to keep Sean from being encircled.

  Looking up into the demon lord's eyes, Sean smiled and licked his lips.

  "I'm hungry. Come to me, food!" Sean laughed and launched himself at the demon lord a second time, seeing a flicker of fear in the lord's eyes. He knew Sean could end him, and suddenly he started to fear that Sean was going to do just that. He hesitated just long enough that Sean was able to get through his guard and score a vicious blow, crippling one of the demon's arms, forcing him to switch over to a single-handed grip on his sword.

  "Coward!" Sean roared as the line continued to move forward, almost carrying Sean away from the lord.

  But then a most curious thing happened. The entire line to either side of the demon lord stopped. Noticing this, the lord's eyes widened, and Sean attacked immediately. Gone were the demon lord's well-practiced and skillful attacks; suddenly the lord's defense began to fall apart. His swordplay slowed, and his attacks stopped completely as he struggled to defend himself from Sean's attacks.

  Sean saw it when it happened; the lord made a mistake, and his eyes went wide as he realized it. Sean leapt forward and, tossing his sword behind him, he shifted into his lion form. The last thing the lord saw was those huge, open jaws coming right for his head. Closing his jaws, Sean took the demon lord by the head and immediately began to whip his head from side to side, wringing the demon's neck and tossing his body back and forth.

  The moment the lord died, Sean felt it. It wasn't just that his body had gone slack, but suddenly there was a welling up of energy inside him as he absorbed everything the demon lord was. Sean didn't know how to describe it; it was just an incredible rush of power, energy, and even some information. In that one moment, he knew everything there was to know about the lord he'd just killed, then it quickly started to fade away. Grabbing onto what the lord had known about magic, Sean tried to hold on to it, looking at it, thinking about it, trying to understand it before it was all gone.

  But he didn't have time to tarr
y here now.

  Turning from the fight, Sean dragged the lord up the rise behind him, almost prancing from the temporary energy rush, and then, in front of the entire djevel army, he sat down and began to eat.

  The effect on the demon army was pronounced, but perhaps not as pronounced as Sean had hoped. They didn't retreat, but they stopped advancing, and started to dig in. As he watched, Sean saw his own troops disengage and start to retreat, carefully, pulling back and reorganizing. Looking up over the hills they had battled over, there were a lot more dead lycans than Sean would have liked.

  Once his army had retreated out of sight of the enemy, Sean stood up, pissed on the carcass of the demon, and padded out of sight. Whereupon he stopped and puked his guts out for several minutes. He was still throwing up when Cali and Estrella found him.

  "You had to eat him, didn't you?" Estrella said shaking her head.

  "What's wrong with eating them?" Cali asked.

  "Other than the taste?" Sean replied between retches. "I think I burned a half-dozen heals on my stomach alone."

  "Then why did you do it, Husband?" Cali asked.

  "Because it scared them," Estrella said, answering her. "Not enough to get them to retreat, they're still plenty afraid of their own commanders. Though I daresay once they learn that old Holigart there won't be coming back, they'll fear lions a whole lot more than they already do."

  Sean nodded and got to his paws a little shakily. "Let's get out of here; I need to eat a cow to get the taste of that thing out of my muzzle." Sean looked around. "Did anyone grab my sword?"

  "Travis did, I have it now," Cali said.

  As they walked off with Sean stumbling between them, Estrella sighed. "You know, if you shifted back, I could just carry you."

  "Can't, too tired," Sean grumbled.

  "I told you not to do it, didn't I?"

  "And you say the princes are worse than that?"

  "Way worse."

  Sean sighed and shook his head. "We need better weapons."

  "Yes, we do."

  "Where's Chad?"