Times Like These Read online

  "We've already picked a team of forty for the other group. We sent them off to get armor and weapons," Peym said.

  "They do this to you often?" Sean asked in a loud whisper.

  "More than I like to admit," the First admitted with a sigh. "Yours?"

  "All the time," Sean said with a grin.

  "Does anyone know what's happening on the other side of one of these small gates now?" Wendy asked, looking around.

  Roxy nodded. "We've been sending teams through to do a quick look and then jump back out. Usually there's a group of about a hundred bonde, with a pair of råge to keep them under control, and then a ridder and a biskop in charge of the whole thing."

  "That's it?"

  "You have to understand, Sis," Estrella said, "they have no idea where a gate is going to open. There's about fifty different helliges, which is what they call the gate anchors, that a gateway can open up at. That's a lot of ground to cover, and King Sladd isn't known for being the most imaginative leader. Besides, it's not like anyone has ever tried to invade before."

  "The djevels invaded, didn't they?"

  Estrella snorted. "Until Mahkiyoc told me that, I thought they'd always been there, because they believe they've always been there. They're clever, and they're cunning, but they're not the smartest. They never figured out I was a lion, even though I killed them, ate them, and couldn't be affected by them, because I was female and didn't have a mane."

  "Point," Wendy said with a duck of her head.

  "Has anyone explained the weapons to you?" Sean asked.

  Saf'kij raised a hand. "I've used ones like this before. So have Jipouet and Sasha. We'll make sure the others are trained tonight."

  "Oh?"

  "Unlike our mate over there, some of us like coming back and checking out the world," Saf'kij said, grinning.

  "Most of us, actually," Keairra added. "But most of the weapons the humans have come up with in the last several hundred years, we haven't all had the chance to play with them."

  Sean nodded. "So, I'll tell Chad to task us six Black Hawks so we can get out there as soon as the next gate opens?"

  "I haven't said we're doing this yet!" the First growled.

  Everyone turned and looked at him, and Sean got the distinct impression if he said no this time, that would be it.

  "Well, Dear?" Keairra asked. "Are we going? Because you know we all want to. We've all been wanting to do this for far too long."

  The First sighed. "Nice to see somebody still values my opinion!"

  There were a number of raspberries from the other six wives at that comment, Sean noticed.

  "But yes, you're right. I've been dying for the opportunity to see if we can't finally do something about these rude little monsters who think they have a right to mess with that which is ours. We're going."

  Highway to Hell

  Sean looked out the windscreen of the helicopter. They were cruising a hundred feet over the desert, going about as fast as a Black Hawk could go. It wasn't the kind of trip that made for a comfortable flight, either, as they often banked up to go around, rather than over, any obstacle that showed up before them.

  Trey was fully concentrating on not running into anything; it was past two in the morning, and they were running without lights. Sean also had silence spells cast on all the helicopters before they left. The gateway they wanted was only five miles from the main gateway. The last thing they wanted was to draw any defenders from the fort there.

  The gateway had opened less than twenty minutes ago, on the last day of the current window. They'd been ready for days now, and the waiting had been getting to all of them. There are only so many times you can check your equipment, inspect your weapons, and go over your plans. When the report of the gate opening came, they'd all cheered.

  His headset came to life.

  "Lion One, Lion One, this is Angel Three. We're seeing activity at the fort."

  "What kind of activity?" Sean asked. Angel Three was a very high-flying jet with a crew of several reconnaissance experts. They had cameras, radar, and all sorts of tricks up there.

  "They're scrambling, running around. Something's got them excited. Looks like they're manning the defenses."

  "Guess they know you're coming," Chad broadcast from his position back at the base. "Angel Three, Home Base. Does it look like they're putting together an attack force?"

  "Home Base, it looks like they're forming up troops to the northwest of the fort. But that's all we can tell from up here."

  Sean looked at the panel of their GPS unit. They were still twenty minutes out from their target. They could disembark, form up, and go through the gateway in five minutes, ten max. But the helicopters wouldn't be able to stay and pull them out if stuff on the other side of the gateway went bad if there was a group on the way from the main gateway. They could make it close enough in a half hour to force the helicopters not to stick around, or they'd be lost.

  "Pass the order, Chad. Pull everyone back! Tell 'em to run or dig a deep hole!"

  Sean switched to the intercom. "Trey! Pass the word, we need to stop and land!"

  Sean heard Trey pass the word to the helicopters strung out behind him to be prepared to stop and land.

  "What's up, Boss?" Trey asked, as they slowed.

  "We need cover. A big hill or something between us and them." Sean pointed to a likely spot on the GPS. "There's good."

  "Cover from what?"

  "Air blast," Sean told him.

  Sean blinked as Trey said something over the radio, spun the helicopter sideways, tilted it up, and then dropped them down behind a hill, putting the skids on the ground, the main rotor still spinning. Looking out past Trey, he could see the other five Black Hawks doing the same thing.

  "Lion One! They're starting to move out."

  "Chad! Sixty second warning! Tell everyone to dig in, now!" Sean called.

  Leaning back in his seat, Sean closed his eyes and checked his levels, then started putting the trigger spell together as he counted down loudly.

  When he hit zero, he fired off the spell, watching with his mind's eye as it made a beeline over the hills and the valleys until it hit the small exposed wire that led down to the box he'd had Chad bury over a month ago.

  "Heads down! Close your eyes!" Sean warned over the radio, and a moment after that, it was daylight outside. Three hundred and fifty ounces of silver suddenly were subjected to magically-induced alpha decay as the physical laws regarding the strong nuclear force were suddenly tweaked in all those bars, simultaneously, for less than a pico-second, and all that energy was released instantaneously in one very large explosion.

  Just then the helicopter's engine seemed to rev up, and he could almost feel it pressing down harder into the ground beneath as the light faded. He could hear Trey counting out loud, "…five, one mile, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, two mile, thirteen..."

  When he hit two hundred and forty seconds, they all heard it, possibly the loudest explosion of Sean's life, the helicopter slid backward across the ground as Trey fought the controls, and then suddenly they were climbing up out from behind the hill, fast.

  "Everyone okay?" Sean called over the radio.

  "Lion Two, Okay!"

  "Lion Three, Okay!"

  "Lion Four, I think we're gonna need some downtime, but we're good!"

  "Lion Five, I'm down! Sheered the tail rotor!"

  "Lion Six, coming back around to Lion Five!"

  "Lion Five, offload, we'll divide everyone between the remaining aircraft!" Sean ordered as Trey banked, then up and around.

  "Gonna be crowded back here," Roxy said with a sigh.

  "Better than the alternative," Estrella said.

  "Angel Three," Sean called over the radio. "Do you think that got their attention?"

  "Lion One, hold on, we're still changing out our sensors, but best I can tell, there ain't nothing left down there but a big ass hole."

  "Well, that'll definitely keep them busy then." Sean sighed
and watched as Trey brought them in behind Lion Four, which was now taking on some of Lion Five's troops and gear. Lion Six was hovering just to the east.

  Ten minutes later they were back on course, a little slower due to the extra weight.

  "Situation report, Angel Three?" Sean called.

  "Looks like every djevel in the area is heading for the main gateway as fast as they can."

  "Chad?" Sean called.

  "I can confirm that, from what our outposts and ground troops are seeing. They're moving back to defend the gateway. I've already ordered up a fire mission; shells will be landing all around there any moment now. We're executing a counterattack as well.

  "Just how big of an explosion was that, Sean?" Estrella asked.

  "A kiloton, give or take a little."

  "What's a 'kiloton'?"

  "Overkill," Sean said with a smile.

  "Overkill is good," Trey said. "Though I suspect someone is gonna be upset with you for Lion Five."

  "Well, hopefully they can fix it before the djevels find it, but right now I suspect they have other things to worry about."

  "True dat."

  Sean continued to check in with Angel Three for the next twenty minutes as they made their way to the gate. Nobody was headed that way, and the small team watching it from a nearby hilltop wasn't reporting any activity, either.

  Trey swung around and came in, landing them behind the gate. It took a minute longer to get out because of the extra people and gear, but ten minutes later, they were forming up and circling around to the front of the gate. Sean checked his watch; it had been open for forty-nine minutes.

  "Well, no time like the present." Looking around, Sean motioned to the group of F2s who were being led by Trevor, a lion Sean had only recently met. They'd all agreed that the second team would go through first and secure the area, then Sean and the First's team would come through.

  The only thing Sean wasn't sure about at this point was who led his team, him or the First. The First was still the ultimate authority, but since they'd been alerted on the gate opening, Sean had been the one giving all the orders.

  As they watched, Trevor led his team through at a trot, weapons loaded and ready. As the last one went through, Sean checked his watch. If no one came back out in five minutes, the mission would probably be scrubbed.

  Three minutes later, Jesse, the lioness who was second in command, popped back out.

  "The råge and the ridder are dead; so are most of the bonde. We're still fighting the biskop."

  "Sounds good enough to me," Sean said and looked at the First, who was carrying duel shotguns, both of which were sawed off even shorter than what the dwarves had given them.

  "Let's go," the First growled, and with that, Sean charged through the gateway with the rest of the team on his heels.

  Sean blinked as he stepped out onto the ramp; this was the same hellige he and Estrella had been at before! Running down the ramp, he broke to the right as they spread out to cover the ground. The Biskop was dead; apparently whoever had been fighting him hadn't had too many difficulties. There weren't any bonde left, either.

  Sean did a quick check of the small blockhouse he and Estrella had been living in, with her and Roxy tagging along to make sure it was clear. Then they met up near the hole in the palisades Sean and Estrella had escaped from last time.

  Trevor and his team were gathering near the spot where the gate in the palisade used to be. Sean wasn't all that surprised no one had fixed it. As he watched, Trevor sent out his scouts. From this point, both teams were on their own, so there really wasn't any point in talking to them.

  "Wow, this is freaky," Peg said, looking around. "It's like one of those old movies my grandparents used to watch."

  "I know, right?" Roxy said, looking around. "I think the only stuff that has any color on it is what we brought, and even that's pretty muted."

  "It's the light," Sean said, "it's gray during the day, and I think actually black at night."

  "How can light be black?" Peg asked, giving him a strange look.

  Sean shrugged. "Beats me. This whole place is strange. Did you notice that inside the blockhouse, even though there aren't any lights, it's never dark?"

  "Now that you mention it..."

  Sean turned to Cali then, who looked...different.

  "How are you doing, Hon?"

  "I feel a little different," Cali said. "I'm not sure I can quite explain it. Like there is something I am missing that I can now have, if only I knew what it was."

  Sean looked her over; her hair had a strange luster to it, and her ears seemed longer, her teeth sharper, and did she have fangs now?

  "Something wrong with Cali?" the First asked, coming over.

  "She says she feels different, and she even looks a little different."

  The First shrugged. "Dark elves are rumored to be part demon, probably why they like killing them so much. This place is full of negative energy, so I'm not surprised she's feeling it."

  "I'm part djevel?" Cali said, looking at the First in surprise.

  "You know elves," the First said with a dramatic sigh, "they'll sleep with anything."

  "Wait, what?" Roxy exclaimed, eyes wide. "They slept with demons?"

  The First laughed. "Not all the races that come from the negative planes are evil or ugly. There is a myth that dark elves came about because a group fleeing one of the negative planes ended up with a bunch of elves. Couple thousand years later, we have dark elves." The First shrugged. "The Fædreland lies a lot closer to the negative planes than our world, or even the world of the elves."

  "How come I have never heard of this before?" Cali asked, looking a little distressed.

  "Obviously because those who fled hated their past and wanted to break from it? It was many tens of thousands of years ago, Cali. It lies dead in the past, don't let it worry you. We all still love you."

  Sean took a step forward and gave her a hug to reinforce the First's words.

  "Huh, I wonder if she can get wings and horns?" Peg said with a thoughtful look on her face.

  "Peggy!" Cali said with a shocked look on her face.

  "Oh come on, Cal! With your looks, you'd rock it. Probably need a pry bar to get Sean here off you!" Peg said with a wink.

  Sean took half a step back and looked her up and down.

  "See? He's already thinking about it!"

  Cali blushed, and Sean pulled her back in against him.

  "You know, she might just be right about that!" he whispered in her ear and gave her a kiss.

  Estrella came over then.

  "Anything I need to know about?"

  "Cali's part demon," Peg said.

  "Really? Well, she doesn't look anything like the ones we have around here." Estrella raised her voice then. "Everyone ready?" She looked around, and when no one said anything, she turned and headed off. "Follow me."

  "How far away are we?" Keairra asked Sean, who was bringing up the rear.

  "Two or three days. This is the gate we were waiting at last time. We did it in two, but we ran for most of that 'cause we had an army on our tail for a lot of it."

  "Well, hopefully we won't have that problem," Keairra said with a grin. "That's why we brought Trevor and his friends, after all."

  "Exactly," Peym agreed.

  Ξ

  King Sladd was in his study entertaining two of his princes, Lykta and Lagereld, discussing their upcoming venture through the gateway to the jagtområder, when he felt it. Prince Spis was gone. The other two must have felt it as well, because their eyes widened and they looked at each other, then at him.

  "My Liege?" Prince Lykta asked.

  "Spis is dead," King Sladd said, standing up.

  "Are you sure, my Leige?" Lykta asked. "Surely the lions don't have the ability to kill one of us!"

  "Yes, I'm sure," King Sladd growled. "I was told that King Sværd lost two of his princes recently to an ambush by lions using some new form of magic. Until now I thought it was on
ly a rumor being spread by his enemies.

  "Lagereld, you are to take your forces and attack, immediately. Lykta, you are to prepare to go next."

  Sladd turned to one of his guards. "Summon Eldstaden to my chambers at once, and send a runner to the main gateway. I need to know what happened."

  "Yes, my Liege!" the guard said and left.

  "May we take our leave, your Highness, to do as you have bid?" Prince Lykta asked; both he and Lagereld were now prostrating themselves on the floor before him.

  "Yes, go!"

  King Sladd watched as they quickly left the room and wondered just what was going on? His own plans had been to not go through the main gateway until after it had grown to full size and stabilized. That time was still many duo-daers away.

  He knew about Prince Talt's problems, the loss of one of his more powerful lords in single combat with one of those lions. King Sladd had been planning to use those problems against Prince Talt, taking him down a few notches until he was no longer a threat to Sladd's power, and perhaps even replacing him once this pass was complete.

  Now this. Prince Spis had been one of his first princes and had been steadfastly loyal through all that time. Sladd had never had to replace him, or even consider it. With his loss, Sladd's power was significantly diminished. Raising up a new prince was not an easy process.

  "You sent for me, my Liege?" Eldstaden asked as he entered the room.

  "Yes, I did. Guards, leave us!"

  Eldstaden stood there quietly as the guards quickly left the room.

  "Prince Spis is dead," King Sladd said, getting directly to the point.

  "And you have no one planned to raise up in his place, do you my Liege?" Eldstaden said. "Furthermore, this may embolden Prince Talt, as he has already replaced the lord he himself so recently lost."

  King Sladd nodded. "You see the problem."

  "Then I suggest you send Talt off to deal with the lord of the ley-lands. Properly presented, he will believe he is being granted a boon he can use against you later."

  King Sladd nodded. "I have been having those same thoughts myself. But if he meets the fate for which we are hoping, then I will be down two princes. King Flik is likely to act on that advantage."