The IX (58 page)

Frozen like a deer in headlights, Ayria willed herself to turn and run, but her legs refused to obey. She attempted to think of something that might delay the inevitable, but her mind congealed into a screaming nub of shock.

Struggling to breathe, she was only vaguely aware that James Houston existed, for her attention had been captured by his visitor. A twelve foot tall apparition of crimson and blue radiance, crowned with dancing flames.

CHAPTER FORTY

Endgame

 
“Did you see that?” Bob Neville’s voice hissed via the radio. “Over on the southern quadrant. Sector six. Focus on the gatehouse parapet. Here, I’ll light it up with the laser.”

Andy Webb scuttled to one side, homing in on the scarlet hotspot. Concentrating, he soon understood what had caught his partner’s eye.

“Got it,” he murmured, “well spotted! It looks like the Bosses are back, though they seem to be happy to stay out of the spotlight.”

Amending his resolution, Andy studied his target. He had an idea.

I wonder?

A swift check along the entire rim of the main battlements gave him his answer.

“It looks like they’re popping up all over the place. I knew the retreat would leave us open to counterattack. They’re pouring through that breach now, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them spreading out. I think they’re trying to circumvent the chokepoint by using the higher barbican.” He scanned along the higher levels. “Damn! They can get within a few hundred yards of this quadrangle without exposing themselves to fire.”

Kneeling up, Andy shuffled round from his position to survey the crowd of refugees surrounding the transporter pad below him. He caught sight of a familiar face. “Bob? Run down and have a word with Sam, would you? He’s just sent Commander Cameron up to the
Arch of Winter
, so he’s exactly where we need him. Take him to one side and update him personally regarding this latest development. Then ask him, from me, to adjust the parameter of the cannons to include those passages. If we have uninvited guests, I want them to get a large slice of
fuck-off cake
as soon as they show their faces.”

Bob grinned, flashed a thumbs-up, and scampered off.

Right, let’s see what else these assholes are up to.

Resuming his position, Andy continued analyzing the unfolding drama before him. He noticed a gradual change taking place within the sea of grunts down in the arc. Instead of simply pressing forward as they had been up until now, the latest arrivals were flooding toward the abandoned facilities lining the edge of the fields. He knew from experience that many of those buildings had contained direct access to other portions of the city. Although each section had been collapsed in on itself and filled with a lethal network of steel and other debris, he realized the Horde would make short work of those barricades without anything to distract them.

Hello? Looks like the Controllers are calling for backup.

He looked slowly from side to side, studying every tactical facet of the walls that came to his attention.
Now, where would
I
go?

Selecting a quadrant along the western rampart, he allowed his eyes to relax, let his focus turn inward, phased out the sounds of battle, and settled to wait.

The minutes ticked slowly by.

A burst of light glared forth from within the confines of a nearby gallery.

There!

Smirking in satisfaction, Andy initiated an open com-link, and moved the sights of his weapon onto the relevant area. “All units, all units, stand-by,” he calmly announced. “We have an incursion on the western perimeter of the Magister’s courtyard. Repeat. We have an incursion by Horde Masters along the western perimeter of the Magister’s courtyard. Level three. Sub corridor one. Enemy forces have just materialized two hundred yards along the main passageway . . . Wait!”

He paused to fire an armor-piercing round toward a Boss that had stuck its head out too far.

Zing!

An area not one yard in front of the monster’s face blushed deep red as the bullet ricocheted harmlessly away from its barrier.

“I say again,” he resumed, “enemy forces have materialized within the main passageway along from the square, and are hidden from the sight of the flyers. Mine details? Please respond to the threat. Sam? Get those bloody guns online, and send a message to orbital control to reassign some of the drones.”

Andy was abruptly overcome by a feeling that someone had walked across his grave. He shivered, and an icy fingernail continued scratching its way down his spine.

What the hell?

He sensed danger approaching from behind.

Turning, Andy glimpsed two glowing masses lumbering toward him. Swathed in purple and neon-blue flames, each was adorned with a coronet that looked as if shooting stars had somehow been captured in midflight, and placed in orbit around their heads.

He had nowhere to go.

In desperation he lunged for his satchel, fumbling with the flap that concealed his personal supply of mini micro-grenades.

Too late. The beasts were upon him.

He tensed, and his skin prickled for the briefest heartbeat as the nimbus of their auras grazed his prone figure. Then the sensation passed.

What? Why didn’t they . . . ?

Flipping onto his front, he watched, amazed, as both Masters ran past him and jumped down into the quadrangle below. As they landed next to the fountain, their compatriots in the adjacent hallway came spilling out, followed by a howling pack of ghouls.

People screamed and began to run, every-which-way at once.

Guttural snarls ripped back and forth between the two Horde parties.

Jesus! It’ll be a bloodbath.

Overcoming his astonishment, Andy managed to grab a mine from his pack.

The growling intensified, and the larger group of brutes moved toward the isolated Bosses, sandwiching a group of civilians between them.

Perfect, how can I take them out now?

“Contact! Contact!” he yelled into his microphone. “Third tier, Magister’s courtyard. I need emergency response teams here on the double. Be advised, non-combatants are caught in the crossfire; I say again, we have non-combatants in the arena. Exercise caution when firing.”

Dropping his grenade, Andy snatched up a machine gun from an equipment bag and drew a bead on the closest grunts.
C’mon, you bastards. Get out from behind your Bosses and see how long you last.

The two Controllers that had ignored him dropped into defensive crouches. Scintillating bands of power appeared between their talons. No sooner had the plasma fused into concentrated balls of light than they slammed their hands together, sending a vicious shockwave radiating toward their opposite numbers.

The shields of the rival Masters hissed and stuttered as they absorbed the potency of the attack. Washing over and around the extremities of those barriers, the energy ribbons continued on, coiling around the spooks taking cover behind them.

The vitality of every unprotected ogre on the landing was torn apart, and the victorious assailants fed greedily on their essences.

I don’t believe it! Are they . . . ?

Stomping sideways, the largest of the nearer Bosses made a sweeping motion with the back of its paw, and most of the trapped human stragglers were swept unceremoniously aside and away from danger.

Most, but not all.

The smaller Controller surged forward, adopting a protective stance above the terrified woman still caught in the danger zone. Andy watched, incredulously, as a silver-blue curtain glittered to the floor around the unlikely pair.

He . . . Jeesus! That’s Jayden. It’s protecting her?

The lone Master attacked the other Controllers again. On this occasion, it hammered them with a coherent beam of arcane puissance so powerful it bruised the color of their shields black.

The paired Bosses responded with a dual counterstrike.

Bloody hell! I’d better let the others in on this.

“All units, all units, sit-rep,” Andy said. “Be advised, along with non-combatants we have friendly Horde forces on the loose in the area of the Magister’s courtyard. I repeat. Some of the Horde Masters you see are on our sid–”

Blazing bands of lightning arced through the air, scorching columns and spars alike. Andy was forced to duck and roll away from a bolt that fried his sniper post to molten slag. Peeking over the rim, he saw that the enemy Bosses had managed to erect fresh shields and were now coordinating their assault on the solitary Controller. Approaching from opposite sides, they kept it on the retreat until they were within touching distance.

Evidently, this was exactly what the lone Master had been waiting for. A scarlet nimbus bloomed into view around its talons. Punching outward, it perforated the defensive shells of its attackers and grasped them by their wrists. Flexing mightily, it yanked them even closer, and unleashed a stunning wave of theurgy that flowed outward from its matrix and into its fellow ogres’. The addition of all that extra power disrupted their thresholds and warped their ability to generate effective shields. Before Andy realized what had happened, their defenses had frittered away in a crackling discharge.

Battling to maintain its grip, the Boss looked back over its shoulder and stared directly into Andy’s soul. Baleful red eyes flared, and a compulsion echoed in the ether between them.

Duty.

I understand,
Andy replied.

Scrambling back across the parapet, Andy snatched up his discarded grenade, pressed the button, and threw it toward the struggling ogres.

The brave Master watched it coming. Opening its jaws, it swallowed the device whole, then heaved with all its strength to ensure its victims couldn’t get away. Its aura abruptly darkened as it was subjected to an overwhelming constriction that distorted its essence like a crushed soda can. It gripped its struggling brethren all the tighter. In moments, they too succumbed to the effects of the micro-singularity.

A terrible keening split the air. Building in intensity, it rose in volume until it felt like the walls would crack. As the Masters ignited, they were snatched away into oblivion, and the noise cut off.

Chunks of debris and ruined trelliswork flew through the air in the rush to fill the vacuity left behind. Andy had to hold on tight to avoid being pulled from his perch.

I don’t believe it! He sacrificed himself to eliminate the danger.

He glanced back to the remaining Controller, who was still crouched protectively over Jayden Cole.

So how the hell are we going to tell them apart?

*

The air still reverberated from receding static and quantum fluctuations. Because of this, the message from Vice Commander Amine came through in garbled, screeching spurts.

“Can you he . . . me? Marcus? Com . . . in, Marcus. We lost visu . . . and audible contact for a moment there. Wh . . . was that sound? What’s happening?”

Marcus winced, holding the earpiece away from his head until he felt the charge drain away. “Fear not,” he replied, “from what I can see, our foes were vanquished by the arrival of help from a most unexpected quarter.”

“Are there really friendlies among the Horde?” Mohammed gasped. “I heard Andy Webb’s update, and could scarcely believe my ears.”

“Yes, it’s true. Not only did one valiant Master destroy a considerable number of its brethren, but its ally then used its own body to shield a stricken woman from harm.”

“How can you distinguish the good ones from the bad? Are there any more of them?”

“That, I cannot say, my friend. More demons arrive through the breach with every passing second. How many of them may be sympathetic to our cause remains to be seen. I just hope the flying sentries can tell which is which; otherwise we may lose the advantage.”

“Good point. I’ll get Ephraim and his lot onto it right away. How goes it down there?”

Marcus sighed. “We are struggling. Although the drones have made a difference, their benefit is limited as they will surely be depleted soon. We still have more than seven hundred of our people to evacuate. Without further sacrifice, I honestly don’t know if everyone will make it out.”

“Well, hang fire on that,” Mohammed said. “Mac thought of an endgame strategy when he had the flyers prepared. Every one of them is fitted with a full-sized gravity mine. Once they run out of ammunition, they’ve been instructed to take up pre-programmed positions around the inner wall and courtyard. As you can appreciate, they’ll form a very effective barrier. When we trigger them, half will simply drop out of the sky and destroy everything within their effective range.”

“And the rest?”

“Ah! That’s where the mind games come in.” Lowering his voice, Mohammed continued, “The remaining drones will descend and slowly hover toward whatever remains of the spook front ranks. They’ll do so slowly, giving our friends time to think about what’s coming. As soon as their sensors confirm they are within five yards of any esoteric signature, they’ll flip forward and detonate—”

“Allowing us more time to get our people away!”

“Exactly.”

“Thank you, Mohammed. Anything that makes my job easier is much appreciated.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t thank me just yet,” Mohammed replied with a chuckle. “Ephraim’s telling me they can’t think of a way to distinguish friend from foe when it comes to the Horde. You’re going to have to ask for flag-carrying volunteers to stand as close to our new buddies as possible. We wouldn’t want to start losing them to friendly fire now, would we?

“Marcus?

“Are you there?”

*

The sanctuary of the recessed colonnade provided the perfect cover. Constructed of fermionic matter, it also presented a formidable barrier to the plague of flying machines now swarming the sky. From a concealed point deep within its columns, Vetis scanned the smoking ruins of the open field before him.