Bloodlord (Soulguard Book 3) (18 page)

Chapter 34

"You look terrible," Paige said when I walked into the building, "And you smell worse."

"No, really," I said, "tell me what you really think."

She laughed, "It's good to see you."

"How bout a hug?"

"I think not."

"So how's our situation?" I asked.

"They're in Cairo," she said, "I don't know why, exactly. They were on the verge of breaking through when they just stopped and ran west. Did you have anything to do with that?"

"Maybe," I said, "I heard they wouldn't retreat. They took huge losses but wouldn’t retreat. I'm afraid I may have been part of the reason. We've been hitting the rear for days and I've been Lashing them with the telepathy. We were hoping we could drive em fast enough that they wouldn't have time to kill everyone in the towns along the way."

"It worked," I said, "We found a lot of survivors and sent em west. Unfortunately it cost a lot of soldiers' lives here. Maybe if we hadn't driven em so hard..."

"When we have a choice of soldiers or civilians, we have to choose civilians, Colin," Gregor said.

"Do we have enough forces to assault Cairo?" I asked.

"No way," Gregor said, "We were about to have to fall back across the channel and blow the bridge."

"Then we need to drop a Code Alpha on em in Cairo."

"We've been informed that 'under no circumstances are we to destroy Cairo as we did in New York.'"

"It wouldn't be anything like New York," I said, "Probably level the whole city."

"Therefore, not an option."

"Do the Egyptians have the forces to remove several million Kresh from Cairo?" I asked.

"No they don't," Paige said.

"What, exactly, do they want?" I asked.

"What they really want is the Kresh gone with no damage to their city. That's probably not going to happen."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen."

"Have you got any ideas?" she asked.

"I've got one," I said, "I go kill a Farrar'Ti and lure the Kresh out of Cairo."

"And how the Hell are you going to do that?" she asked.

"In short," I said, "We drop in from above as soon as I locate the Farrara'Ti. I kill it. We run like Hell."

"Colin," Gregor said, "This isn't a thousand Kresh, not even a hundred thousand Kresh. There are millions."

"I know," I said, "and I would rather drop an Alpha on their heads. But we have to try to do as they ask. If it fails, we drop the Alpha wherever we have to. It would be easier to sneak in alone but if I have to Alpha, I need the troops. I'll take twenty Mages."

"No, you'll take a full load," Paige said, "You can fit a hundred and ten on the plane. Take a hundred and ten. Don't even argue with me, there are over four million Kresh in there."

"Then that's what I'll do," I said, "Now I'm goin to clean some of this shit off me and go see Lyr. Then I'll gather the troops."

This whole thing grated at me. Buildings can be replaced as long as the people survive. Everything depended on whether the damn things would chase me anyway. I'd chased them for two and a half days. Would they be angry enough to chase me after I killed their Farrara'Ti?

Maybe. If not, then I would blow up Cairo.

I left the office that Paige and Gregor had been using for the last few days, whenever they weren't out on the lines with the other Mages.

If not for the Source weapons, the lines would have collapsed. There weren't enough Mages to have stopped what the Kresh threw at them.

Prada was outside, waiting.

"How bad is it?" she asked.

"Looks like we get to jump out of a plane again," I said.

She sighed.

"We got our mission," I said, "Get cleaned up, go jump Hicks' bones, then meet back here in three hours. We're about to start a ruckus."

"Oh, goody," she said, "I was gettin bored."

"Tell the others as you go," I said, "I gotta go tell Lyr I need her to stay behind, again."

"Good luck with that," she said.

I nodded and headed toward the tents to the north. All the wounded were being evacuated to Jerusalem but I knew Lyr would be there, healing any she could as they waited for their rides.

"Boss!" I heard from my left.

I turned to find Trent, "We got a temporary barracks over here to get cleaned up and re-armored."

"Not much point," I said, "but I can use a few hours of clean before we head back out."

"Where we goin?"

"You're with Lyr," I said, "I'm takin Mages only on this one. We're gonna kill a Farrara'Ti and kick the hornets' nest."

"She's gonna be pissed if ya leave her behind again."

"I know, but I need someone to save our asses if this all goes to Hell."

"Hmmm."

I followed Trent inside where I found the most wonderful thing, a shower and a whole new set of combat armor.

After the refreshing shower and some clean clothes, I continued my trek to the tents of injured. I felt her Pulling before I reached the tents. She was bent over a man and holding his leg.

I could see the flow of life force as it focused right on the spot where his leg had been broken.

As she finished, I stepped into the tent and she saw me. A huge smile crossed her face and she was in my arms.

"I've got good news and bad news," I said, "Good news is that we're back, the bad news is we have to go back out again."

"When do we go?"

"Here's the thing..."

"Don't say it if it’s a lie." She said.

"I really may need you to come save our asses," I said.

"That wasn't even a lie," she said, "What the Hell are you about to do?"

"Gonna kick a hornets' nest and see if we can lure em outta Cairo for an Alpha."

"If we could only do an Alpha in Cairo," she said.

"You saw em, too?" I asked.

"Yes, and I was still tempted to do the Alpha."

"I was, too."

I told her of the Egyptians' demands. I would have ignored them if it wasn't for the Souls I saw as I looked toward Cairo. They had a group of prisoners on the northwest end of the city. Perhaps ten thousand souls.

"We have to try to pull em out away from those people," I said, "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work but we gotta try."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Gather all the Mages and Mageguards. Have em ready for an Alpha. When we reach a certain point, be ready to initiate it."

"Ok," she said, "but I still wish we could just hit it from outside and let them rebuild."

"I do, too," I said, "We'll try to save their city if we can but as soon as we get far enough away from those people, do it. Meanwhile, is there anything I can do to help you, here?"

"There's a lot of wounded," she said, "Start anywhere. If it's too severe, holler and I'll make sure we can do it."

"Will do," I said.

***

"Where's he at?" Gregor asked Paige.

"Down in the tents," she answered, "helping Lyrica heal the wounded."

"Not so much of a monster as he thinks," he said.

"He never was as much of a monster as he thinks he is," she said, "and never will be what he thinks he is."

"We should tell the Egyptians to piss up a rope and burn the whole place down," Kharl said from behind them.

"I know we should," Gregor said, "But Colin has a point. We have to at least try to meet their demands. It is their country."

"He's tryin to do the 'right' thing," Kharl said.

"He always tries," Paige said, "And I guess I'll show him my support. I'll be going with him."

"As will I," Gregor said.

"Can we afford to have all three of you out there in that at once?" Kharl asked.

"He needs the strongest Mages with him and we are the strongest Mages," Paige said.

"Just as well," Kharl said, "I'm goin with about half the Jaeghernauts. I've been through the classes, I just prefer usin the Mageguard skills. Doesn't mean I can't Pull, if necessary."

Chapter 35

The plane ride would be short but necessary. I needed to get high up and look down to see if I could find the Soul of the Farrara'Ti.

"Do you see it?" Paige asked.

"Yeah," I said, "it's in the northwest."

It was near the prisoners. I hadn't told anyone about the prisoners. If this didn't work, I didn't want my people carrying the guilt with them about the loss. If we couldn't get the Kresh far enough away from the prisoners to hit them, that would be on me. Not them.

I pulled the street map of Cairo out and lay it on the floor.

"This building," I said as I pointed at a large structure a short distance from the Nile, "This is our target. We jump and use shield chutes. Quiet landing. I'll go down inside the building and kill the Farrara'Ti. When all hell breaks loose I'm coming out on the south east end and we meet there.

"Then we juggernaut shield up and head south east as fast as we can."

"Sounds like a plan," Prada said, "What are we gonna do if something goes wrong?"

"Same as we always do."

"Make some shit up," Rostov said.

"Oh, dear," Paige said with a sad shake of her head, "This is what you call normal?"

"The life of a Soullord's Guard is an exciting life, Ma'am," Brighton said, "Full of adventure, full of surprises."

"Full of shit," Kharl said.

"That, too, Mate," Brighton said with a grin.

"I'm so glad you made it in time for this, Daphne," Kharl said, "We were hopin ya might lose yer cloths again. You wearin a thong?"

"Bite me," Daphne Cavanaugh said, "Dream on. You keep runnin your mouth and I'll tell Ky. I hear she has a stream bigger than yours and can throw you through walls."

"Speakin of that," he said, "Ya really screwed me on that one, Son. I thought ya had my back."

"It was the only way she'd do it," I said, "She said I couldn't stop till she was stronger than you."

"Traitor," he said.

"Comin up on our drop point, Sir," the pilot's voice came over coms.

"Roger," I said and the back door began to lower.

"Everybody ready?" I asked.

"Ready as I'll eve..."

I threw Prada out of the plane.

"Did you just...?" Paige started.

"Yep," I said, "you need help?"

"No, thank you," she said and jumped with Gregor right behind her.

Rostov went by laughing. It never gets old, throwing Prada out of a plane.

I jumped and dove down to the same level as Paige. She hadn't done many chute drops and I thought I might need to help. She handled it like a professional and looked at me with one eyebrow raised as I flew past. I opened the portal on my chute and my plummet turned into a slow glide.

This was probably the slowest I had jumped out of one of the planes. But we were on a secret mission. It wouldn't do to land in an explosion of fire and death, now, would it?

As I got nearer to the ground, I looked around at the city sprawled below us. Buildings upon buildings stretched in every direction. Cairo was huge. And the streets were packed with Kresh.

"We'll have to go south on top of the buildings," I said over coms, "Too many of em in the streets."

"Roger," Paige said.

"Be ready when I kill the Farrara'Ti," I said, "Don't wait for me, I'll be right behind you."

I landed on the roof of our target along with a hundred and nine Mages.

"You know what happens when we kill one of em. I'll be movin fast as I come back out of the building. You guys need to be moving already. And we'll need to make a lot of noise, so feel free to blast the shit out of em."

They started moving quietly to the south end of the building.

Rostov motioned for Daphne to precede him, "Perhaps you may lose your clothes again and I would not wish to miss this."

"Never goin on a date again," she muttered as she went by him.

"Do not say such things," Rostov said, "Perhaps you should have been with a Russian who would have gladly removed his clothing and fought, naked, beside such a woman. It would have been glorious!"

"Bloody crazed Russians," Stone said as he walked by me.

"Russians are all crazy, Lad," Lennox Flynn said, "Tis a proven fact, that."

I chuckled as my friends headed to the south. With a little searching, I found the access to the building. I focused on a thought of empty space and projected it. This was a trick Gorvelis had told me about while I was on Cerres. The key is to keep your mind clear. Which is much harder than you may think.

I opened the door and began a quiet descent down to the bottom floor of either an apartment building or a hotel. I could feel the presence of the Farrara'Ti below me.

My rage was trying to beat down the walls but this was no place for that. Slowly I descended until I was at the last floor. I eased through the door into a lobby. He was waiting for me.

Rash'Tor'Ri
, he said into my mind,
I feel you.

Not for long,
I thought back at him.

He was moving. Like Kil'Sin'Deres, he moved like lightning. I dodged to the side but not fast enough. Pain exploded in my right side as his claws ripped my side open.

His body slammed into the wall behind me, because his Soul was gripped in my left hand. I felt their Source and the beast inside me howled.

Blood flowed down my left side but everything seemed to move right so I Pulled power to the spot and the blood flow slowed.

A roar filled the air throughout the city as the Kresh realized what had happened.

"Damn," I muttered, "gotta move."

My side wasn't healed but there were crashes as the Kresh slammed into the side of the building in their rush to get to me.

I ran up the stairs with crunches, crashes, and roars following behind me.

"They sound pissed," Kharl said over coms.

"They are," I grunted as my side ached, "On my way back up."

I reached the roof to find some of the Mages waiting on me, Kharl and my ten squad leaders.

"Paige took the rest ahead and started raising Hell," Kharl said, "We're your escort."

"By all means," I said, "Let's get the Hell outta here, then."

We ran south as the top of the building erupted in Kresh.

"Son of a bitch!" Prada said, "That’s a lot of Kresh."

"Tis a fact," Flynn said.

I Kept Pulling to the wound in my side and, after a few minutes, stopped lagging behind.

"You're hurt," Kharl said, "Why didn't ya say somethin?"

"That bastard was fast," I said, "And I've got it healed, mostly."

As we leaped to the next building, we all launched discs down into the horde.

They launched fireballs back that missed us.

"Demon Mages," I said.

"Really? Ya think?" Prada asked.

"Smart ass."

She laughed.

I felt a large Pull from ahead of us.

"Paige or Gregor," I said, "They got a shitload of Kresh following em."

I could see the dark Souls ahead of us where our other group were located. We were almost caught up when I saw them go to the ground. There was a huge train yard ahead and we had to cross it.

"Get ready for juggernauts," I said.

As we left the edge of the last building, we spread out and opened portals on the juggernaut armor. I slammed into the packed Kresh in front of me and blood arced upwards. We broke through to the open space where Paige and the rest were running across the train yard.

Then I saw past them.

"Oh shit," I said as Kresh poured into the yard from all directions.

They were moving at full speed and hit our juggernauts with a huge crunch. A Mage with juggernaut shields can do a god awful amount of damage, but it requires being able to move. There were so many Kresh we actually ground to a halt and they kept coming.