Demon Lost (17 page)

"The enemy is coming this way, and in numbers we cannot fully assess—they have a blocking wizard working with them," Commander Gorth announced immediately. If his troops hadn't been so well trained, they might have burst out in whispers. As it is, they kept their silence during the rest of the announcement. "They may have other wizards from the outlying villages working with them," the Station Commander went on. "The numbers could be in the thousands. I know many of you have not seen the enemy before, having merely heard about them or had them described by another. Tonight, when this announcement is over, you will each go with your section leaders and a full description of the enemy in all its forms will be given to you. Our Rangers have gone out again tonight, to see if the number of enemy troops might be pared down before they reach Crown City tomorrow at nightfall. Bear in mind that only the wizards can see them well enough at night so their shots will not be wasted. We will bend our thoughts in the Rangers' direction tonight, with hope that their mission is a success. Should that not be, we will be waiting at the gate tomorrow morning to mourn our losses and prepare for the coming attack."

* * *

"Where's Re?" Dane hadn't found their friend anywhere, although he'd seen Commander Aris at the back of the room during the assembly. The new recruits were shuffling behind their section leader, who would be giving them information inside the barracks.

"I didn't see him, either." Gin swore softly, and he never swore. "I wish I had enough nerve to approach Commander Aris."

"I'm going." Dory, smallest of the three, swerved away from his place in line, heading straight for Commander Aris, who watched with hooded eyes as the troops broke into groups and filed out of the large hall.

"My apologies, Commander Aris," Dory ducked his head respectfully to the Commander. Dane and Gin came up behind, almost breathless from bucking the crowd to follow Dory.

"Recruit, what is it?" Commander Aris gave Dory a stern look.

"Commander, we know that Re is attached to the Rangers. We didn't see him tonight. Is he well?"

Commander Aris breathed a sigh and lowered his eyes briefly. "You are his friends?" he asked, looking up again.

"We are his only friends—among the recruits," Dane declared, then dropped his eyes, ashamed.

"No, we have guessed at this," Commander Aris smiled slightly. "Which one of you helped him clean the bar?"

"I did," Dane blushed.

"Then what I tell you now you may not repeat to another soul, do you understand?" Power was in Aris' voice and the three could only nod in understanding—they had no choice. "Re," Aris went on, "goes out with the Rangers. He is the finest marksman I have ever seen among my troops, and when he fires at the enemy, he does not miss. That is why he is so valuable to Bel and the Rangers. He keeps them safe."

"Re goes into the desert with the wizards?" Gin squeaked. Just the idea of it frightened him.

"Has been since we arrived at the Station," Aris nodded. "Go now, or you will be late for your gathering."

* * *

Bel motioned for us to stand down when the first lights appeared far in the distance. I saw only a few, and none were within firing range as yet. More lights appeared as our steps became more careful and we drew closer together. Bel, Hish and Lin would drop to their knees in front when the time came, I would remain standing right behind them, firing over their heads and Delvin, Jorvis, Max and Pell would be right behind me, firing over my head. That formation was the easiest way to stay in the prescribed circle around me and kill the enemy without harming ourselves. Aris had devised the formation and drawn it up for us before we left.

Bel was still walking forward, but Delvin had crept forward and given Bel a hand signal. Bel gave us the sign to stop. We stopped. And then stared at what lay before us. The enemy knew we were there and now knew that we'd stopped. What looked to be thousands of lights blinked into existence and I went cold.

* * *

"They've found them and the numbers are worse than we feared." Aris' eyes were unfocused for several moments before coming back to the room that held him, the High Commander and Station Commander Gorth. One of Aris' many talents was that of seeing through another's eyes—in this case Bel's eyes. Bel had given permission long ago and Aris used it when needed. It cost him little in the way of effort and gained him and the others much-needed information. Aris would have gone out with his Rangers, but the High Commander had insisted he stay behind to feed him information. Aris had argued with him, but the orders had remained the same. Aris held his own opinion of the High Commander and of the Prince Royal, but held those thoughts back—they wouldn't be spoken aloud. At least not while the enemy threatened.

"Do you think any of them will return?" Station Commander Gorth was genuinely worried. He'd been against sending the Rangers out, preferring to keep them inside the walls and forcing the Prince Royal's wizards to aid the military in the fight when it came to them. The Prince had refused, saying that his wizards protected Crown City's walls. Both Aris and Commander Gorth had explained that the enemy, combined with the hedge wizards they'd conscripted, could breach the walls quickly. The enemy would come pouring through, leaving everyone vulnerable to the attack.

The Prince, having listened to the High Commander and some of his cozy, well-fed wizards, had refused to consider Aris and Commander Gorth's suggestion of pooling their strength and taking the enemy down quickly. The hedge wizards had done the same thing and nearly killed the Rangers. If it hadn't been for Reah and her peculiar talent, the Rangers would be dead already. Aris was withholding that information in order to protect Reah and the Rangers.

"I am concerned for the Rangers," Aris turned to Commander Gorth. "If any of them survive this night, it might well be a miracle." Aris rose and stalked from the room. He'd seen what Bel had seen—multitudes of lights blinking in the desert. The eyes of the enemy—that's what they were seeing. Aris wanted desperately to send a mental message to Reah as she lifted her rifle with the others, preparing to shoot on Bel's silent command. Aris climbed one of the many ladders that rose to the top of the wall surrounding the military station and stared out at the darkness in the direction the Rangers had taken. A mental message now would only distract his Reah. Yes,
his
Reah. He was terrified for her and for himself.

* * *

Only a moment longer—that's what we had. The desert was completely silent around us—not even the sounds of sand shuffling betrayed the enemy's footsteps as they moved toward us. Perhaps one of their wizards had done that for them—muffled the noise they made as they approached. I'd seen Delvin counting on his fingers while Bel watched, figuring that Delvin was giving Bel information on how many wizards might be with the enemy. He'd counted out seventeen. That was frightening. Bel gave us the ready signal. We lifted our rifles in unison. Bel gave the signal to fire. I set my sights and fired.

* * *

"The enemy is engaged," Aris sighed. Commander Gorth had come to stand next to Aris on the wall. Gorth had no way of seeing what Aris could see and had to depend on Aris' description of what was happening in the desert. The High Commander and his guards had stayed inside the private meeting chamber, reluctant to come out. The High Commander would remain in contact with the Prince Royal, giving regular updates. Aris knew the High Commander would be giving erroneous information unless he came to receive Aris' intelligence personally.

Aris huffed out another sigh. The High Commander played a dangerous game, feeding the Prince Royal contrived messages of safety. Only the attack from the enemy while the High Commander had been on his way to the desert had forced him to give the Prince anything other than rosy accounts of their successes. Aris had attempted to inform the Prince, but the High Commander had stopped it and stopped Aris from going to the desert himself. Aris was powerful and the High Commander wanted that power under his thumb in case he and the Prince Royal required it. He was risking lives—lives that Aris knew might be too precious to lose.

* * *

Max had been forced to move us a short distance back already, when the enemy rushed us. All of us were disoriented—we'd been firing when Bel gave the swift hand directions to cease firing so Max could move us. I still had difficulty breathing when he did that and it took several moments to get myself under control. By that time, the enemy was within range again—Max hadn't moved us far, likely to conserve his power. Pell, too, had employed his talent. He could cause rifts in the ground beneath enemy feet. It failed to harm them—they climbed out of the ditches easily. What it could (and did) do, was slow them down.

I was firing as quickly as I could point and shoot at a target. The enemy steadily marched toward us. Bel prepared to send out the first of his blasts—they were close enough, now. I heard screams as Bel's first effort hit the target and many lights went dark. Others came to take their place. I fired. And then fired again. The enemy wizards sent a blast that knocked us to our knees. We rose and began to fire again, even as sand and small rocks pelted us from above.

Jorvis was next, creating illusions of more of us. I could see through the images he made—they looked like wispy ghosts to me, but the enemy attacked them as if they were real, sending blasts to the left and right of us. Jorvis seemed quite talented if he could create two complete illusions at the same time. While the enemy focused on Jorvis' constructs, we continued to kill the lights coming toward us. Bel saw their attempts to surround us immediately, so Max moved us backward again—a little farther, this time.

We had a few precious ticks to recover before we fired once more. I had no time to think, otherwise I might have wondered at the sheer numbers that were coming in our direction. All I could do was fire, making sure my shots counted. Who knows how many enemies we were bringing down? It only seemed that each one that died was replaced by another. We'd been working our way through the night and emptied one rifle before shouldering our second. Poor Max was sent to gather extras after moving us twice. He had to be exhausted when he arrived with two extra rifles for each of us. He never said a word, shouldering his own rifle and firing in a smooth and practiced manner.

The enemy was attempting to circle us again, but it was too soon for Max to do anything for us. Bel pointed me to his left—he wanted me to fire in that direction. I swiveled quickly, taking as many as I could in a furious burst of shots. Had they thought I might fire that fast? I was desperate—we didn't need to be surrounded like that. We needed an escape route in case Max couldn't get us out. Bel fired another blast of power toward our right. And then another blast. More screams came. More of the enemy died. I fired as swiftly as I could aim accurately, emptying another rifle quickly. Lin tossed me another as I dropped the empty.

As a unit, we backed up slowly, still firing. Again, I wondered how many of the enemy were out there, waiting. Their wizards sent another blast that exploded in front of us. That served to send a river of sand flying in our direction—they were attempting to blind us. We covered our eyes and ducked as the storm of stinging particles hit. Pain bloomed against exposed skin, which meant our hands and what wasn't covered of our faces suffered from the onslaught, feeling raw afterward.

The moment the air was clear around us, we began to fire again. Twice more we were hit by blasts that exploded before us and I felt as if the skin had been flayed from my hands, neck and chin—those hadn't been covered as I threw an arm across my eyes. Nevertheless, we continued to fire at the earliest opportunity after each blast. Max went back for another round of rifles, taking the empties with him. It would be foolish to leave them in the desert for the enemy to find and use. Ranos rifles were precious against these creatures and the wizards protecting them.

* * *

"More are out there than we imagined." Aris felt weary as he updated the High Commander. The High Commander had sent one of his guards out to bring Aris and Commander Gorth back to the private room—he didn't venture out.

"How are they faring?" Aris didn't fail to notice the coldness in the High Commander's voice and wanted to squeeze his throat until he squeaked. He buried that thought and concentrated on the High Commander's question instead.

"They are doing as well as anyone might expect—all are still alive at this point, but they have been hit many times by wizard blasts. The last few were attempts to blind them with sandblasts. They are tiring, I know that much. Dawn cannot come soon enough."

Dawn was little more than a click away. The enemy, in Aris' opinion, might try one last offensive in an effort to kill the Rangers before scurrying to bolt-holes to spend the day. Aris worried about that. He worried about the Rangers. Most of all, he worried about Reah.

* * *

Dawn was coming soon—we all knew it, tired as we were. Max was down—too exhausted to move. He huddled behind me on the ground, making himself as small a target as possible. He'd emptied himself, going for one more supply of rifles. I hoped what we had would last until the enemy went seeking their holes to hide in when daylight came. My other hope was that the enemy wizards might be tiring just as ours were. Bel expected them to hit us hard before they retreated with the dawn. What would they do? What
could
the do? That worried me as I attempted to aim at the enemy. My vision swam at times and I was forced to wait for it to clear before pulling the trigger. I had no desire to waste the power in the rifle Max had exhausted himself to bring to me.