Age of Mystics (Saga of Mystics Book 1) (27 page)

Natalee Ward hid in some high branches of a tall pine tree and looked across the south area, a couple of miles south of their camp. The group of men walked slowly, but deliberately toward them. They were probably miserable in this weather. The snow storm had grown to almost blizzard conditions and the wind was gusting and blowing all around them. Natalee did her best to count them. The men wore dark clothes, which was a blessing for her counting, as they stood out against the white of the snow quite well. There were four columns, each roughly square, and they had what she thought were ten people across the front of each column. That would be four times one hundred.

She looked down to the base of the tree and made hand signals to let Jordan Kane know there were four hundred men. She looked back up and made sure she didn’t miss anything. It was the first real scouting she had to do since they started using Max’s dogs. For some reason, the dogs were afraid and would not come in this direction. No one felt good about that.

Making her way nimbly back down the tree and jumping to the ground, she pulled Jordan with her, as she moved very quickly through the brush at a low walk, to keep as concealed as possible. They found their way back to Uncle Ted and let him know what they had seen.

“There are about fifty Tigers, or whatever, but the main force is over six hundred soldiers, plus three on horseback and one horse without a rider,” Nat told him as she took a drink from her canteen. Nat could see the concern on her uncle’s face and knew its reason. They had maybe twenty people who could fight, plus the dogs. Even the dogs could be outmatched with numbers. They would have to be smarter than the group of soldiers.

Natalee had a special dislike for the group’s leader. Her dad had been drummed out of the Army by this man. She missed her dad more than she knew was possible, and if given the chance, she would take out her anger and grief on the man who had once caused her dad the same.

“Okay, we know what we have to do?” Ted asked.

They both nodded, and Jordan ran back to tell Johnson, Kin Ko, and Tom Barrett about the plan. The three men were spread out, intending to seem like there was more of an opposition. Uncle Ted wanted Eric Fine to know they had people, but not how many people. So, the three men’s jobs were to make noise and occasionally show themselves.

As Ted and Nat walked toward the clearing where they would confront the group, he talked lightly to her.

“So, you ready to see how far those abilities really go?” He smiled a warm smile at his niece.

She looked back at him grimly, “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Nat,” her uncle began, “don’t let them take your soul away. We only kill if we have to, we stay who we are by saving them from their own bad actions.”

She nodded, and tried to settle her nerves. “I know. I will do my best.”

Ted put his arm around her shoulder, “I know you will, kid. I know you will.”

They walked the rest of the distance in silence. When they arrived in the clearing, one which was in the direct path of the oncoming force, Ted brushed some snow out of Nat’s hair.

“Uncle Ted,” she asked, “why are they bothering with us?”

“Eric Fine is a control freak; he always has been. He probably just wants to control the area. He has always thought himself better suited to lead than any man in the world. I should let you know that you are our biggest asset.” Ted looked over at her, and smiled.

Natalee was confused, “Why is that?”

“Because Fine is an old school misogynist. He does not see women as having value, he never has. He won’t see your strength, and will only see me. It is important that we take advantage of that. Do not show any aggressiveness or power until we are ready to fight. Can you do that?”

Natalee loved when people underestimated her, this was going to be fun. She nodded firmly. “No problem, back to being the prom queen!”

“Just on the outside, sweetie.” Ted winked at her. “On the inside, we all know you are a warrior of the first order.” They both laughed and waited for the arrival of the enemy.

Eric saw the two snow-dusted figures standing in their path. It was a man and a young woman. By their body language, Eric could tell they were blocking the path and had something to say. There was something strangely familiar about the stance.

Eric halted the columns with a hand motion. “Meyer with me, George watch the horses.” He climbed down and Meyer did the same, following his lead.

Eric enjoyed the stretch. It had been some time since he had been in the saddle and it caused a different kind of muscle ache than other activities. He and Meyer trudged through the four or five inches of built-up snow for that extra fifty yards to where the couple stood.

“You are in our way. Would you happen to be from the Hillside?” Eric began.

“Yes, we are from the Hillside, Major, we came out to talk with you.” The man said, but the blowing snow and the remaining fifteen feet obscured his vision and he couldn’t see the face. It was clearly someone who knew him, and he recognized the voice.

“Do we know each other?” Eric asked.

“Of course,” The man said back and Eric looked into a face he had not seen in years, one he had thought already dead all those years before in the sand. Sergeant Ted Craven, though bearded and a little grayer, looked pretty much the same as he remembered him.

“Craven?” Meyer said as they walked closer.

“Hello Zane.” Ted responded, “Why have you come to our little encampment with four companies of men at your back?” Ted smiled, but this was the usual battle parlay, and all three men knew it.

“Well, Sergeant, we have a list of grievances.” Eric replied, letting his companion quietly know to shut up. “You are harboring a criminal; we have come to reclaim her. But, I am surprised you are here. Your buddy Ward always took the lead with you two. Where is he? Is he one of those hiding in the bushes?” Eric looked around to make it clear he knew there were others there. He couldn’t be sure how many, but he guessed a small number. Looking back at Ted, he saw the grief there. “Ah, didn’t make it, huh?”

The young woman shifted uncomfortably, and Eric looked at her for the first time, “Are you going to introduce us, Craven?”

“No, I am not, Major.”

Eric’s jaw set, “I don’t go by that title, it is Shogun now.”

Ted looked at him dismissively and cleared his throat. “Yeah” he said in a monotone, “So I have heard. Anyway, Fine, what are you talking about?”

Meyer stepped forward, “You will show the Shogun the respect he deserves or I will personally make you kneel before him.”

“Well look at you getting balls, Meyer...” Craven said, and Eric held out a hand to hold his companion back.

“Okay, enough. Here are our terms. Tear down your defenses, and bring out every person in your little walled restaurant. Those of you we deem valuable can return with us, the rest can leave. The Hillside is now ours. We will give you until tomorrow morning to consider our offer. If you do not accept, we will attack, and no one will survive. Not you, not this little girl, not your wife,” and much louder so all could hear in the bushes, “Not one of you shall live through the day tomorrow. Go, ask your people what they want to do, Craven. You needn’t answer. I will know if you are surrendering tomorrow morning that you have chosen life. If not, you have chosen death. Come, Meyer, let’s give them the space to realize the futility of their situation.”

Eric turned, Meyer following, and walked back to where the horses were. He yelled out to his force, “Make camp for the night!”

Turning and looking back to where they had just been, he saw no sign of the two people he had just been talking to. He smiled to himself.

“Do you want me to send someone after them?” Meyer asked.

“No, let them go” Eric replied.

“So, you are going to let them choose?” Meyer asked more quietly.

“Of course not. They have no intention of complying, which would be sad if they did, General.” He looked off north toward the restaurant, the snow landing on his face and melting against his warm skin. “No, they will not comply. Leave two columns here. As soon as it is at its darkest, send one column around to flank them and block them in. You take another column and have twenty men climb that cliff in front. I want their exits blocked and our men inside their camp before they wake in the morning. We will begin the hangings after dawn. Not many trees or poles around though, what do you think? Maybe we hang them from the cliffs?”

The snow was still falling lightly, but the best part of the night was the fact that the cloud cover remained. Meyer stomped his feet to keep the blood moving. It was bitterly cold and he could feel his toes growing numb. He had taken his one hundred men right up to the cliff on the south side of the restaurant, and no one had noticed a thing. Another hundred men had gone around to the entrance side. They had given a wide berth, so as not to be seen approaching. The Shogun’s orders were to attack at first light, so here they waited in the brush.

There were lights up on top of the cliff, but they didn’t look like fires, the light was too white. What could cause lights like that to shine? Could they possibly have working flashlights? No, that didn’t make sense. No light, lantern or even pin light worked in the last nearly four months. He really couldn’t wait to find out what made the lights.

Turning to those under his command, he whispered, “Spread out along the cliff. We climb before first light. We have to be in the compound before first light so we can attack.”

The men nodded. These were all soldiers. Shogun had kept all of the Tigers with him, and Meyer really wished he had a few now. The Tigers just responded better, more quickly, to his commands. The soldiers were decent fighters, but all a little dull, in his opinion. One of the soldiers held up and hand and Meyer crouched his way over to the man.

“General,” the shivering man began, “Up on the left, I saw two people for a moment in the light. It looked like they were looking down on us, but the lights went out.”

Meyer looked up to where the man was looking, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He did see, however, that finally all of the lights that shined on top of the cliff were out. What the man had probably seen was whoever was turning the lights out, looking out toward where they assumed the army was south of the encampment. There was certainly no sign of any problem. Still, he would need a better vantage point to make sure.

Motioning for two men to follow him, he made hand gestures to the rest of them to stay put, low in the bushes. He had noticed a small rise back along the side of the mountain here that gave no advantage for attack, but would set him about half way up the cliff in view. From there, he could get a better vantage point and more accurately assess the situation.

It took about fifteen minutes to climb the little rocky incline, but once atop he could see there was nothing to be worried about. It looked like their enemy hadn’t even posted guards on that side of the cliff, probably assuming it was inaccessible. Meyer would prove before the night was finished that it was not.

One of the men with him tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the far side of his company of men. He could make out the brush, but couldn’t see any of his men. That was a good thing. Then he saw what the man was pointing at, there were two large dogs creeping toward his men. He was a little concerned about them startling the men, someone shouting out and the company losing their stealth advantage, but the dogs stopped and ran off east at a full sprint. They must have seen a rabbit or something.

As he watched the dogs, they passed a tree and he saw movement, he was pretty sure someone was climbing that tree. Perhaps that was the guard he was looking for. But, after watching the tree for a good five minutes, there was no more movement. It must have been the wind.

George had been given command of this company and he was not going to lose the favor he had gained in Shogun’s eyes. He might even be able to take over as General if Meyer slipped up. His orders were simple, make a wide berth and flank the Hillside, kill or capture anyone trying to escape. He would do his duty.

He remembered the Hillside fondly. He had asked his girlfriend to marry him beside the pond there before his last deployment. Then the skeezy bitch had cheated on him while he was serving his country in combat. It had been his great pleasure to choke the life out of her when all this shit went down. He thought about the man and girl who had stood in the road before Shogun, maybe Shogun would let him have the girl. He would keep her in line.

He motioned to the men, and whispered, “Turn west. We head for the Hillside now.”

Turning, he saw yet another dog. Had someone released every damn mutt in a shelter near here or something? This had to be the fifth dog they had seen since they left Shogun, and they all seemed to just stare at the men. It was kind of creepy.

His men were all standing around. “Move out, god damn it.” He wasn’t whispering any more. These soldiers were pissing him off.

A scream tore through the night. Was it one of his men, had someone attacked? George ran through the line they had made to the far side and the sight that met him was gruesome. One of his men, lying on the ground with his throat torn out, lay there dead. He remembered seeing stories on the local news about bears and mountain cats in this area. But he didn’t remember any of the stories about them attacking people. He had also assumed that they would be hibernating by now.

From the side of the line he had just run from, he heard, “No, no, no, aaaaaughh!”

Running back that way, he noticed the men were getting skittish, and he couldn’t blame them. Another man lay dead at his feet when he arrived to where the sound had come from. He saw two men make a bolt from the group in different directions. He was about to run after one of them, when the man dropped from sight. He heard some kind of muffled sound, then silence. He turned to steady the men, but what he saw now was chaos.

A small group of his soldiers seemed to be fighting amongst themselves, others were fleeing. He saw some rolling around on the ground. It was pandemonium. Gathering all the energy he could muster, using the techniques that Shogun had taught them, he strode into the group of men to put an end to this. He almost immediately realized his mistake.

The first sight to change his view was the men rolling on the ground. They weren’t alone, there were dogs attacking them. The men who fought amongst themselves were not fighting amongst themselves. There were fighting women among them, and Shogun had no women in his fighting ranks. Also, a group of a dozen or so of those fighting wore camos that looked more Air Force than Army, as he had seen them in the sand. The ones who ran, were immediately set upon by dogs in the perimeter. George started to back away, but when he turned, there was a little girl in front of him. She was maybe ten or eleven years old, with medium length blonde hair and pale skin. But the look on her face chilled him to the bone. It wasn’t a look a child should ever have on their face. It was a look of hate, a look of war.

George decided his only chance was to take this girl hostage. Reaching for her was a mistake, a growling dog moved into his sight on his left. He pulled his hand back, but looked to his right and saw another, its hair raised on its back, snarling sharp teeth and drool. He planted and kicked at the dog on his right as it leapt, hitting it cleanly in the chest. The dog flew into a nearby tree trunk and he heard the satisfying crunch of broken bone and a small yelp, as it lay there dying. Turning toward the other, he shouted at it.

“Oh, you want some too?” Then he reached for the girl again, and teeth bit into his arm.

He spun and delivered a spear hand to the dog’s throat. The dog released his hand, but the one on his left lunged and tore through his camos, sinking its teeth deep into the flesh of his calf. As the dog ripped, George dropped to one knee and drove the point of his elbow into its neck at the base of the pitbull’s skull. He lost the flesh that was in the pit’s mouth, but he was free of the dead animal.

“Princess, no!” The little girl called, and George looked up to the face of a monster. The little girl herself ran at him full speed, and with an unexpected force, knocked him to the ground. His back hit with a dull thud and she was on him. He reached out to throw her off, and she bit deeply into his hand around the thumb. She shook her head like the pit had and ripped his thumb off. George screamed in pain as blood squirted out of the hole where his thumb had been.

He back-handed the girl across the face with his remaining good hand, though that one had teeth marks from the second dog. Gathering as much wits as he could in the pain and blood loss he was now experiencing, he got to his feet and began to limp his way away from the men who were dying behind him. Searing pain in his one good leg overtook him, as yet another dog grabbed ahold of him. Turning to deliver another killing blow, he was bowled over by a giant German Shepherd. The Shepherd bit hard into his shoulder and George screamed out once again, he reached up to push it off and found it was the little girl who had bitten him again, she released and he looked up at her pale blue eyes, her mouth smeared with his blood, and saw the rage there. He looked above his head and the Shepherd was rushing him, but it was a ruse. The dog had got him to look up, exposing his neck, and the little girl lunged at him, burying her tiny teeth into his exposed throat and ripping his throat out.

As he slipped from consciousness and into eternal rest, he saw this little girl spit his flesh from her mouth and turn back to finish off his men.