Lottery King 7, page 27
Not that the realization comforted me at all. It only meant these people were working of their own free will. They weren’t victims, hostages, or captives of someone else’s control.
They were pure, radical evil.
There were so many of them, too, and I wondered if they hadn’t realized my forces were spread so widely around their camp. It seemed like they’d sent the majority of their numbers directly at me, but that meant my other teams would be able to access the camp more easily. I was glad to keep the focus here if it meant the rest of my soldiers could get in and secure The Rising’s base.
Enemy fighters just kept coming, and my soldiers just kept killing them. More than a few of my people screamed as they suffered minor injuries, but I was pretty confident none of my people were lost.
A kinnara with dark wings suddenly rushed over the top of our huddled group with a forceful whoosh, and the blast of wind made my eyes water. Then three merfolk soldiers skewered the enemy kinnara out of the air with two tridents and a polearm.
“Aaahhh!” the winged paranormal screamed.
He flailed where he was impaled in the air for a few seconds, and blood poured down the length of the merfolk soldiers’ weapons. Then a rattling sound escaped his mouth as his entire body drooped in death.
Four more kinnara appeared out of nowhere, and they swooped down over our heads like vultures trying to pick at a lump of roadkill. At least four hands covered my head and pushed me down to the ground without any chance to argue.
My knees landed on the ground with a bit of force, and my pants soaked up a bit of the wetness in the soil. I couldn’t move my head to see the faces of whoever had forced me into this crouched position.
I had to assume it was Nyxx and Gemma, and a sharp grunt from my mermaid fiancée beside my ear confirmed that.
My ears were filled with the clang of weapons, the grunts of effort, and the squish and thump of blood and bodies hitting the ground. I found myself counting the number of thumps, and I counted twenty-three bodies hit the ground before the hands eased on my head and shoulders.
“Fuck,” Gemma sighed.
“That was intense,” I hissed as I stood up again.
Nyxx reached out to touch my shoulder, and I nodded at her to let her know I was okay and uninjured. Gemma’s eyes scanned over my body to double-check, and then our group started moving forward once more.
We walked for maybe a minute before another group of enemies arrived.
An enemy paranormal with thin, beady eyes suddenly appeared in front of me with anger all over his face. It was hard to identify what species he was in the short glance I was able to get before he attacked with a simple sword.
As I caught his blade with a block from my own, I discovered he was much stronger than his thin frame suggested.
“Ugh!” I grunted with the effort to push his blade back from my throat.
Nyxx and Gemma moved in the edges of my vision, and I could tell they were both occupied with their own fights.
I shifted my left foot back and found a large root to brace myself against. It gave me just enough leverage to shove my enemy away.
“Ah!” he gasped as he stumbled back a step.
I angled my sword up to strike, but he dove backward into a reverse somersault to dodge my blade. I didn’t let him get away, though, and I advanced after him with three brutal strikes of my sword.
His beady gaze went wide with shock as he blocked each of my strikes.
I narrowed my eyes, and I moved sharply to the left. My blade came forward as if it was a pure extension of myself, like I didn’t even need to think or plan the move. I was almost as surprised as my opponent when my blade sank into the space at the base of his throat.
“Gguuuahhh.” The sound gurgled from his throat as blood filled his esophagus and spilled out from between his lips.
I grimaced at the gut-wrenching sound, and I removed my sword from his chest. Blood flooded out of the wound like my blade had been the only thing stopping him from exsanguinating on the spot.
The man dropped to the ground, and at the same instant, Nyxx and Gemma were both at my side again.
Nyxx’s left hand touched my arm, and Gemma pressed her back to me.
“Michael?” Gemma hissed.
“I’m okay,” I said in a rush.
Nyxx gave my arm a squeeze, and neither of them moved from my side again after that. They remained right with me as we watched my shadow nymph guards and merfolk soldiers cut down a few dozen more enemy fighters.
Another rush of enemies arrived a few seconds later, and for a moment, my forces were overwhelmed. The shadow nymph guards and merfolk soldiers crushed in around Nyxx, Gemma, and me as The Rising fighters advanced.
“Ahh!” I gasped as I was crushed between half a dozen bodies.
I could hardly expand my chest to take a breath, and after about fifty seconds without proper oxygen, my vision started to swim. The edges of my sight tinged with black, and bright spots started to dot everything in front of me.
It took almost a full minute before my soldiers and guards were able to push our opponents back, and I finally sucked in a deep breath.
As my vision cleared, I could hear the blood-curdling sounds of battle and death all around me.
Enemies and allies alike grunted, groaned, and gasped, and it all mixed in together with the clash of steel against steel and weapons sinking into flesh. The squelching wet noise of entrails and blood joined in, too, and I clamped my dinner in place.
There was a very short pause between attacks, and the thunderous sound of more battles raging in the near distance filled my ears. I tried to tell which direction the clash of bodies and weapons came from, but it sounded like it was in all directions.
Then the sudden echoing clap of a single gunshot scraped down the inside of my spine, and I felt all the blood drain from my face.
In an instant, more shots were fired. There was never more than one at a time, and the single shots were rapidly followed by a sound of shock or pain and then silence until the next bullet was fired.
I stared at Nyxx, and even through the featureless face of her shadow nymph form, I could feel her surprise as much as my own.
“Guns?” Gemma mouthed the word without a sound.
I was interested that they were as surprised as me, and I started to wonder if the possession of firearms was a distinctly human desire.
I thought about the four other teams that we’d brought with us, and I knew they were each waist-deep in their own battles. The Rising must have numbers nearly as great as ours, based on the constant screams and metallic clang of weapons.
But the sounds of gunshots were eliminated quickly, and I guessed they hadn’t had very many at their disposal.
Then the jungle around us erupted in sudden silent and fireless explosions. Clumps of loose soil flew into the air like someone had slammed a sledgehammer into the ground from below. The sound of dirt, rocks, and sticks raining down around us filled my ears, and my brain raced to the assumption that The Rising had more human-world weapons. My first thought was grenades, but there was no sound.
Before I could think another thought, I was shoved to the ground again, but this time I had a better view of what was going on around us.
Ferns, bushes, and small trees seemed to explode without a single bomb or blast anywhere. A wave of enemy paranormals arrived between the trees, and I realized what was happening.
Five or six dark-skinned sones led the charge, and they blasted magical energy attacks from their hands that acted like grenades as they landed. The air warped and rippled in their open palms the split second before the silent explosions.
Dirt, leaves, and sticks flew up into the air, and someone screamed.
My forces’ response was swift and lethal, and I noticed the distinctive shift of the absolute darkness as shadow nymphs slipped through the moonlight that shone between the trees. Then my shadow nymphs appeared beside and behind the sones with shadow blades in their hands.
The enemy forces’ bodies soon turned black, and they dropped to the ground as a line of other paranormals filled in their ranks.
I was hauled to my feet by several hands, and they pushed me away from the front line. More of my soldiers and guards filled in the gap between me and The Rising members like sand caving into a poorly dug hole.
I gripped my sword in my hand as my brain buzzed in a state of hyperfocus. My body felt pulled tight like a bowstring, and I knew I would attack anyone who came too close to me without an ounce of hesitation.
But my forces were well trained and skilled at their jobs. Not a single enemy fighter came into my range, and in a matter of minutes, the battlefield started to clear before us.
Nyxx and Gemma flanked me, and I could see the last bits of fighting coming to an end in front of us.
“Eeeaaaahh!” a long and pained scream ripped through the night.
“Shit,” Gemma hissed.
Shock took over as my mermaid fiancée left my side, and I instinctively followed a step behind her. I could feel Nyxx right on my heels, and I was glad we didn’t move very far from our original location.
Gemma knelt down beside a merfolk soldier who was severely wounded. She pressed her hands firmly on the gaping wound at the soldier’s side. Blood oozed more slowly from his side, but it was still coming too fast.
He wouldn’t survive this.
It took me a few seconds to realize I recognized him. It was Gregor, the skilled merman captain who’d taken over most of Gemma’s direct responsibilities.
“Shit,” I breathed, and I knelt down beside them.
I hadn’t even known he was a part of this mission, and now he was bleeding out on the jungle floor right before my eyes.
My mind seemed to reach out by itself before I’d fully made the decision to connect with Gregor.
“Aahhgggbbbrr,” Gregor muttered, and more blood spattered out from the corner of his mouth.
“Shhh,” Gemma hummed in a trembling voice. “Don’t talk.”
I was already stretching out to capture Gregor’s lifeforce with the connection to Koschei’s powers. I didn’t know if it would work with him so injured, but I had to try.
A medic arrived and began to do what she could to slow the spill of blood from Gregor’s body.
I hardly registered the medic’s care, I was too busy locking the spindly centipede legs all along a new tether to Gregor’s life. It was difficult and taxing work because his lifeforce tried to slip out of my grasp like sand through an hourglass. My magic wrapped around his lifeforce over and over, and it felt like I was surrounding him in yards of clean bandages with my mind.
“The bleeding has stopped,” the medic said with shock.
“Michael?” Gemma asked in a hushed voice.
My eyes were closed, and I was too consumed with my task to properly answer yet. I had to make sure the tether was strong and locked in place before I could relax my focus.
Gregor’s heartbeat pulsed slow and weak through his lifeline, but it steadied into an even rhythm alongside his shallow breathing. It wasn’t much, and I knew he was dangerously weak, but he was alive.
And I could keep him alive until we could get him to a more powerful healer than our field medic.
“Aaahh,” Gregor breathed, and the sound was far less panicked than before.
With one more pass, I made sure his lifeline tether was secure and locked in my grasp, and then I opened my eyes.
Gregor was paler than a sheet of paper, but he was alive. He looked at me with bright eyes that were full of fight, and I knew he could survive this after all. He tried to move his lips, but they barely quivered and no sound escaped his throat.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “Save your energy.”
I turned to the medic and a group of soldiers who had gathered to protect us while we worked to save Gregor’s life.
“Get him out of here,” I ordered. “Get the best healer on this. Now.”
“Yes, your majesty,” a merfolk soldier said.
“He’s very weak,” the medic said. “I don’t know that he’ll survive transport, your majesty.”
“He will,” I insisted, and I locked another layer of protection around his lifeline. “Get him whatever medical attention he needs.”
He and three others scooped Gregor up, and they carried him away as gently as they could. A few pained groans escaped from the merfolk captain, and I finally looked around us.
My guards and soldiers stood silently and stoically around Nyxx, Gemma, and me, and the ground was littered with bodies. I was grateful that none of them were shadow nymphs or merfolk, and I knew Gregor was the only serious injury my forces had sustained.
A pair of shadow nymph guards stepped toward us, and Nyxx turned to face them with a commanding stance.
“Report,” Nyxx ordered.
“The other teams have eliminated the enemy forces,” the shadow nymph reported. “We estimate ninety percent of their numbers have been killed in the fight.”
“Ninety percent?” I repeated with amazement.
“Yes, your majesty,” the shadow nymph said. “The other teams closed in around the camp in order to protect your position.”
“So many still got through,” Gemma said, and her tone was almost accusing.
“It was chaos, Commander,” the shadow nymph said. “The teams are moving in toward the camp now.”
“What’s the ETA?” Nyxx asked.
“Unclear,” the shadow nymph replied. “There are barbed wire fences all around that we have to cut through. We’re also concerned about the possibility of landmines or other explosives.”
“They had guns,” I said suddenly as the moment came back to me.
“They did, your majesty.” The shadow nymph nodded.
“What the fuck was that about?” I asked. “Is that usual? I feel like we’ve never encountered guns before.”
“No, it’s not usual,” Gemma replied. “As I’m sure you understand, merfolk rarely rely on such weapons. It appeared Koschei had no desire for that kind of destructive technology, either.”
“It’s fairly rare you’d find a member of the Eternal Realm who uses a firearm,” Nyxx said. “Most of us find them to be a barbaric item far below us.”
“I mean…” I said with a slight smirk. “Firearms are definitely superior to melee weapons in most instances, but in this one, I see your point.”
Nyxx smirked right back. “Fair enough, but I find my blade quite effective.”
“Oh, absolutely,” I chuckled.
“And like her, many have no need for such a weapon with the kind of magic we can wield,” Gemma added.
“I kind of figured that,” I said. “Not exactly the most stealthy of weapons, either.”
“They are horribly loud,” Nyxx agreed with a growl.
“I’m not surprised we encountered them from these…” Gemma said with a deep scowl. “These people.”
“It sounded like they didn’t do them much good,” I said.
“No,” Nyxx said. “Your shadow nymphs would have gotten within their range before they could get a shot off. Range weapons like that are rarely useful when you fight someone with great speed or lightning-fast magic.”
We stood quietly for a few more minutes, and I kept waiting for a loud explosion in the distance. Every second that passed without a firebomb gave me hope that no landmines had been used, and finally a shadow nymph returned with a new report. “The way is clear, your majesty,” a shadow nymph reported in a normal tone of voice. “We’ve received word from the other teams. The camp is secure.”
Chapter 16
“The teams have given us the go-ahead to move in?” Gemma asked in a toneless voice.
I looked over at my mermaid fiancée and found her staring at her blood-soaked hands. Finally, Sunny’s insistence that I always carry a handkerchief in my pocket came in handy. He’d made the habit of carrying a handkerchief in my pocket such a force of habit, I hardly even registered the action anymore when I got dressed. But gratitude filled me as I pulled it out, and I handed it to Gemma.
Her magenta eyes widened with surprise and gratitude, and she wiped Gregor’s blood from her palms and fingers.
“Yes, Commander,” the shadow nymph said. “All surviving members of The Rising have been detained and restrained. We are clear to move in.”
“Good work.” I nodded, and I turned to look at Gemma again. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be alright,” Gemma mumbled. “You tethered him, didn’t you?”
The image of Gregor’s too-pale face rose in my mind, and I checked in on his tether again as I nodded. His pulse and breathing were still weak, but my hold on him was strong. He was alive, and he would stay that way until the medical professionals told me he would be alright or there was no hope.
“Thank you,” Gemma sighed, and the tension finally started to ease from her shoulders.
The mermaid commander turned to nod at the shadow nymph guard, and we all started to march over the corpses and deeper into the jungle. A heavy silence fell over all of us, and Nyxx took my hand in hers as I held Gemma’s with my other hand.
The lights in the distance grew brighter as we approached, and after about five minutes, I could see they were battery-operated lanterns. They looked simple and cheap, but they got the job done.
An eight-foot-tall chain-link fence with razor wire curls all along its top surrounded the entire perimeter. A pair of double-wide gates big enough for a truck to drive through sat wide open, and a thick chain hung loose from the middle.
About a hundred and fifty paranormals were lined up on their knees just inside the chain-link fence at the edge of the camp. The majority were in shadows, but those I could see more clearly had their hands tied behind their backs, and they had gags in their mouths. The lanterns cast sharp light down on them from above, and they created harsh shadows over their features.
I turned away from them to look around the camp.
There were some camping tents pitched in a cluster on one side of the camp. Down the middle were some rickety-looking cabins that were constructed of thick logs tied together with what looked like dried-out vines. They were simple, rustic constructions but they appeared sturdy and well put-together.
