Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian (58 page)

“I know,” Alec acknowledged.

“Just think, another day or two of this and we’ll be back to the bridge and safe among allies,” Alec said to assure her.

They talked on as they rode, until Rubicon called a halt and ordered the setting up of camp. All the ingenairii again took turns at guard duty during the night, and the next day the group ate breakfast and sent the infantry towards the rear, while the mounted riders waited for the first approach of the Michian forces. Alec had an air ingenaire stationed to give an extra breezy boost to their arrows, and the four ingenairii began hitting the restocked horses of the invaders when they were still a quarter of a mile away. The Michian commander sent foot soldiers towards the defenders on the run, and eventually the cavalry forces had to begin to back up, but only when they sensed soldiers using the cover of trees on the right side of the road to sneak closer.

That afternoon they repeated the exercise, slowing the invasion down again before they fell back.

“We’ll reach the bridge tomorrow afternoon at this rate,” Rashrew told them.

“Hopefully we’ll have forces gathered there, in numbers to allow us to defend it properly,” Nathaniel repeated the thought on everyone’s mind.

“We’ll know tomorrow,” Moriah assured him, holding his hand and placing her head on his shoulder as they sat on the ground near the fire.

The next morning they slowed the invaders down one more time, then pulled away from engagement, and came to the slopes that led to the Ravinia River. When they came over the rise before the descent to the bridge, they saw hundreds of men spread out in positions on both sides of the river, and Rubicon gave a great whoop of elation. They were home and feeling safe; every one of them felt good knowing that their efforts had created enough delay to allow an army to arrive at the bridge – everyone except Alec.

The arrival of the delaying squad raised the spirits of all the forces that had gathered at the Ravinia bridge and established their defenses. All had come because of Alec’s callout for support, and his presence gave them encouragement and relief. Oyster Bay and Stronghold had men and horses present, with smaller forces from Frame and Sturgeon, and all that Bondell had left to offer. Alec longed for the arrival of the Goldenfields army as well. Their added numbers, along with the other forces still trickling in, would give him numbers equal to or greater than the invasion force.

Although he didn’t know it, Alec already had forces almost equal to the Michian invaders. The long, hostile road to get to the bridge had sapped away more than ten percent of the Michian army, and the Empire’s commander was running short on supplies. He didn’t know why the restorers had stopped bringing goods to him, but he knew that the original plans had called for him to rapidly and easily march out of the mountains and to the seashore, where he would be able to launch his invasion along the coast and be able to ship men out from South Harbor. Now he needed to get out of the mountains not just to move his conquest forward, but simply to try to find a supply of food and material for his soldiers.

His first look over the crest at the defenses around the bridge told him that he would have to resort to his worst weapon, one that he disliked using but knew was the only way he could win his way across the bridge. He called his sorcerer and sorceress to his tent, and instructed them to raise two demons the following morning to breach the defenses on this side and to cross to the other side of the bridge.

The appearance of a demon was what Alec feared and expected. During his first night among the huge encampment, he had dreamed that John Mark had visited him

“Your greatest challenge is coming, Alec,” the saint had warned. “When the time comes, you will know what to do. The Lord has prepared you as I did not imagine, and I hope that someday you will recognize the tremendous blessing you have received, that He trusts you with such a difficult task.”

In his dream, Alec had wept upon hearing that a greater challenge was coming, and he knew that it could only mean facing another demon.

When he awoke in the morning, he went to a chaplain and knelt for a long time in prayer. As he sat and ate breakfast soon thereafter, his left hand began to throb again with pain. He peeled off his glove and observed again the wounded palm, still raw to look at.

There was movement on the far side of the bridge, where the front lines faced the Michian forces, and Alec knew it was time to head to his fate. He drew Bethany aside to talk. “I had a dream last night,” he told her. “John Mark told me that a difficult task is at hand.

“I want you to know that I love you and will always. Whatever it takes, or however long it takes, I will come back to you,” he told her, as she fearfully studied his pale face.

“Alec, you’re frightening me,” she said. “You don’t have to do anything else now. You’ve got a whole army that you brought here to fight this war.”

“It’s not the war,” Alec countered, as she knew he would. “It’s the demon. I’ll have to be out there with the others to fight it. No one else has fought one before.

“It’s terrifying,” he whispered, looking inward.

“We can’t let it just rampage through our army. It’ll slaughter so many and destroy so much if we don’t do something,” he said. “The battle and the war will be lost unless we beat it here.”

There was the sound of disturbance out in front of the battle line, and Alec knew he had to go. “I have a premonition that we’ll be separated for a while,” he told her. He heard a familiar whistle, and saw Rubicon looking in his direction.

He hugged her more tightly, and said softly, “I love you,” then released her and stepped away.

“And you know I love you too, Alec,” she replied as their hands parted.

“See how nice it is when your beloved replies,” she smiled while tears brimmed in her eyes. “I’ll expect you back soon!”

Alec smiled, then waved his fingers as he began to walk backwards towards Rubicon, one of the most difficult steps he had ever taken. Moments later he turned his back towards Bethany and took a deep breath as he faced and moved towards Rubicon. Nathaniel and Moriah were waiting with him. “Let’s go take care of this problem,” Alec said with false casualness. “I’ve fought one of these before by myself.”

“And didn’t you say it was worse than a nightmare?” Nathaniel asked.

Alec ignored his question. “Rief! Rief!” he shouted loudly as they walked towards the bridge.

His friend and Rander came running to see him. “What is it Tarnum?” she asked with a serious look on her face.

“Would you come out towards the battleground with us, to heal anyone who is injured during the battle?” he asked. “You’ve been close to a demon before, so I know you won’t freeze when you see this thing.”

“Are you sure about that?” she asked.

“Alec, you can’t ask her to go out near a combat with something like that!” Rander said simultaneously.

“I’ve been close to a demon before,” Rief said, placing a calming hand on Rander’s forearm. “Tarnum’s probably the only one who’s been closer than me and lived to tell.

“I don’t want to get that close again, but I will do whatever you want,” she told Alec, looking steadily into his eyes.

“You will be as safe as I can ensure,” Alec pledged. “Rander, you can come to safeguard her as well, as long as you stay away from the confrontation,” he said as he started to walk onto the bridge and across it.

A groan and a scream and a wailing shriek all mixed together and emitted from an unearthly throat sounded ahead of them. “It’s here,” Alec said. “The time has arrived!” and he broke into a full sprint, enhanced by his warrior powers so that he appeared as a streak to the observers who watched him lead his band towards a battle of death.

Chapter 50 – The Demon’s Attack

Alec slowed down to pass through the front ranks of Oyster Bay forces lined up facing an open slope. At the top of the slope were the forces of the invaders, and in the wide opening between the two armies was a monstrous entity. The hideous face contracted into what may have been a snarl as it saw the small figure of Alec standing alone on the ground in front of it, a snarl that repeated as three more figures arrived and spread in a line with him. Slightly behind crouched the smaller figure of the imp.

“It’s fast, incredibly fast,” Alec warned. “We’ll spread out and try to surround it, so that whoever is in a blind spot can try to harm it.” He slipped off the backpack he still wore, the leather bag that had travelled across the entire Dominion with him, and placed it on the ground. He turned and saw Rief and Rander standing behind him at a safe distance.

Alec moved in front and then around to the right, drawing the monster’s attention, and then drawing a sudden strike towards him. The speed was greater than he had expected, and he barely moved away from the spot where the claws of the demon scored the turf.

Just as suddenly, the monster whirled completely around and struck towards Nathaniel, who had started to maneuver towards a spot for an attack on the monstrous back. Instead, he had to fling his sword up to block a swinging paw, and then another from the opposite direction.

Rubicon pulled a dagger from his belt and threw it with precision at the head of the monster, but it ducked beneath the flying blade, which went soaring into the grass far past it. The distraction worked though to at least give Nathaniel enough space to pull back out of range.

Alec engaged his abilities at the greatest level possible, then darted at the demon and sliced his sword with all his strength at its hamstring. The blade entered and sliced through the hard, unyielding flesh, and the metal became seized by the heavy muscles as they contracted around the edge. Pulling with all his might, Alec pulled the blade away from the back of the leg and instinctively rolled to the rear as the monster screamed in pain and whirled towards him, but partially collapsed as it tried to pivot on the weakened leg.

Its movement was impaired by his attack. He felt good about that; he had managed to slow it down, so that now it couldn’t easily move to face an attacker or attack one of the ingenairii. Whether they could kill it was unknown, but now at least the battle would be closer to even.

Moriah engaged it for the first time, nimbly jumping in and out of its range, poking at the demon with her sword. Though she seldom made contact, she was managing to keep its attention without suffering harm. Alec edged around its left side, keeping it distracted, as he passed by Rubicon and ran into the grass, where he picked up the dagger that had been previously thrown.

He returned, and started the same effective tactic he had used against the demon he had faced in Michian. As the horrible visage faced Moriah, Alec threw Rubicon’s dagger at its left eye, and then a split-second later threw his own dagger at its right eye.

Just as had happened in Michian, it knocked away the first dagger, but was vulnerable to the second, which landed squarely in the large orb. The creature lashed out in pain, and whirled unexpectedly, its claws raking across Rubicon’s legs and torso, despite his efforts to avoid it.

Rubicon screamed in pain, and the demon faced towards him, its back to Alec. As it removed the dagger and threw it aside, it reached for Rubicon, only to receive a hard hack from Moriah, who sprinted over to protect her mentor. Alec simultaneously ran and jumped on its back, then proceeded to stab his sword into the flesh of his opponent.

The demon whirled quickly while reaching up behind itself, and brushed a glancing blow across Alec’s scalp. He was torn loose from his perch on the creature and knocked several feet away, as blood began to flow into his eyes from the scalp wound. Alec saw the creature starting to move towards him. Despite the damage they had inflicted, it was still moving fast.
Any other opponent would have been defeated by four ingenairii long ago
, Alec thought soberly, and he realized again how lucky he was to have survived his encounter in Michian.