Soulguard (28 page)

Chapter 59

              “The power cables are tough on that thing. I can’t get enough power into my lance to cut it. That’s the strongest thing I have.”

              “Is it the design or just not enough power?” asked Greg.

              “Definitely power, the design will work with whatever power I can pour through it.”

              The Kid was out in the horde again with his Guards. I was standing with Kharl, Ric, Daphne, Caprida, Sam and Greg. We were close to the injured and Kyra motioned for me to come to her.

              “Mom?”

              “You just pulled power through our streams to heal us, Son,” she said, “Can you Pull it and use it instead?”

              My mouth dropped open. It hadn’t even occurred to me to try something like that. Two hundred Guards would channel a hell of a lot of power.

              I hugged her, “You’re a genius, Mom.”

              “I know,” she said, “Now go clear up this mess. My side hurts and I want to go home and retire. I’m too old for this shit.”

              I returned to the group and Rictor said, “He’s got that let’s experiment look on his face.”

              “Oh dear,” Daphne muttered, “Now it begins.”

              “Ric, I need a volunteer for some craziness,” I said as I rejoined them.

              “Let’s do it, Boss.”

              I love freaking Marines.

              “When I Pull, all I want you to do is focus on not letting power from it enter you. I want you to focus on a point twenty feet above my head and when you feel it come up your stream, steer it there.”

              He had a huge grin on his face.

              “Ready?”

              “Hell yeah. Light the fire.”

              I reached into his stream with my mind and Pulled much harder than I had done for the wounded. I watched as it rose and veered out of Ric’s stream to a point above my head where it rolled out of the tendril he had formed with it.

              “You all right, Ric?”

              “This is what it feels like to Pull?” He asked with awe rolling across his aura, “It’s amazing, Boss.”

              I stopped my Pull and made my decision, “New game plan, boys and girls!”

              I turned to where the Kid had just entered the shield again with his troops, “I need a hundred guys here with the Kid. Sanders as support and Olliver to hold the gates. Everyone else, except the wounded, is invited to be a part of the biggest Pull ever attempted. Volunteers only! This could be the most incredibly insane plan in the world.”

              “I’m going to Pull power through everyone to power a way to destroy that gate. I don’t need to tell you what’s happening if the gate stays open. There are over a half a million Demons on the other side, intent on coming here and killing everyone.”

              “In five minutes, I’m going out that door,” I pointed toward the north opening, “What say we end this before more of our brothers and sisters have to die in this damn place?”

              The Guards roared as I turned to the Kid, “I want you to cause as much of a ruckus as you can stand over here. Come back here in between runs to rest, but I want crispy Demons everywhere. If we succeed there won’t be any more than what’s already here, so the numbers will actually dwindle. I need as many as you can get over here and pissed off.”

              “Yes, Sir,” He said and turned to his men, “You heard the man! Let’s go make some damn Demons irate!”

              “Sam,” I said as I headed for the door, “When we get there, you’re the shield bearer. All of the Mages will be support and all the Guards will be the battery. I’m the gun. Let’s get it done.”

              “Yes, Sir,” he said and smiled. I think he found it amusing to say that to someone seventy years his junior.

              I headed for the door. Gregor was waiting there with every Mage except the three I had designated to stay here.

              “Frigging support Mage,” he was mumbling as I walked up, “She was frigging right.”

              I laughed and turned to find that every single Guard who wasn’t under the Kid’s command was forming up with us.

              I’d never been so proud of my Guard. And they are
mine
, my family, my friends, my brothers, my sisters, my Guards.

              “Open the gate!”

              As the shield dropped I let the rage out and shot out the door like a rocket, my new set of swords alight with Soulfire and ripping through anything that got close enough for me to reach. We headed straight toward the gateway.

              We reached the area directly in front of the gate where I could plainly see every inch of it.

              “Here!” my voice boomed and Sam opened his shield portal a small amount and placed it where he wanted. Then he opened it wide and the shield solidified. We slaughtered the Demons inside of the area and I turned to the gateway.              

              The amount of power I figured would be used wouldn’t work with my Soullance. I had to craft a new one, the feeder tube was close to four feet in diameter and I used power to adjust the lenses to reduce all the way down to three inches. It worked with my projected power, I just hoped it would work with the amount I’d be pouring into it.

              I turned to the Guards, “It’s very important that you don’t let the power into your body. Focus on the area twenty feet above my head. I’ll take it from there. Focus. The Source is an unforgiving bitch and it
will
burn you down.”

              “We’re ready, Boss,” Rictor looked around at them and back to me, then nodded.

              I turned to the Mages, “Every one of you will need to be in this, I had to Pull when I just did one at a time.”

              “We’re ready,” Greg said, “You know this is crazy, right?”

              “We specialize in crazy, Greg,” I answered.

              I turned to the Gate and reached out with my mind to find all of those Soul streams and when I had felt them all, two hundred and forty-one streams, I Pulled.

              I went to my knees and the three Mages placed their hands on my arms. Strength flooded back into me as the Source wasn’t Pushed from them into me but Pulled through them in a huge torrent. My body soaked it up as I Pulled from the Guards, and Power exploded everywhere.

              I reached up and steered that power into the Soullance and a blindingly brilliant beam blasted out the other end. I hit the first cable and the beam started cutting it!

              But it was slow, I Pulled harder and the beam brightened. The first cable snapped and I started the second. Around the gateway the beam cut. It was close to halfway done when Darrel suddenly went slack and fell behind me. I looked back to see he was still breathing. His body had just shut down.

              I saw power ripping up the other two’s streams and turned back to the cutter.

              I made it through three other cables when I felt Greg fall.

              Paige began screaming and I knew we weren’t going to make it but I had to keep going. Four more cables!

              Suddenly I fell to me knees and had to stop. Paige had fallen.

              “Damn it! Just fucking once, let things work!” I turned to check and both Greg and Paige were alive.

              “Use me,” Sam said and stepped forward.

              “No, if the shield comes down,” I pointed to the horde of Demons pounding on the shield, “they get in and if I’m Pulling from the Guards, they can’t fight. I’m
not
letting my Guards die like that!”

              I snarled as I turned back to the Gate, “I know what to do but I don’t know if I can survive it. I guess I’ll find out!”

              I could stop here and search for some other solution, but every solution I could think of involved more of my Guards dying. I can’t stop because I’m afraid for my life, knowing it will cost more of theirs. It’s just not in me to, because if there’s one thing I know beyond a shadow of a doubt it’s that Soulguards
never
quit. Not one of my brothers and sisters would hesitate to give their life to end this and I could do no less.

              “No, wait just a sec...” I heard Kharl start.

              I let the rage come and with it power and focus. My Soul erupted and four huge tendrils formed. Not from my stream, but directly from my Soul. I reached out to all of the Streams inside of the shield, except Sam’s and Pulled with every ounce of my being.

              As the power exploded across the sky I slammed all four massive tendrils down into the Source and strength flooded into me. The lance surged back to life and the beam sliced another cable and another.

              More power was flooding into me than I needed and I poured it into the Lance with the huge stream of power slicing the last cable.

              The portal began to lose its pattern and suddenly it seemed like it imploded. I heard a massive roar as every single Demon on the field had its Soulstream severed.

              Now the part I dreaded was upon me, as soon as I stopped Pulling from the Guards, those tendrils would be pouring into me.

              “Tell them I did my best,” I said to Sam, who was staring straight at me with a look of horror at what I had done.

              Then I formed a shield around me and held it poised above the four streams. When I stopped Pulling from the Guards, I slammed it down through those Tendrils, severing the connection with me and the shield took all of that power instead.

              Fire roared through me as the excess power flooded my body and I screamed as I released everything into the sky as I had done one time, long ago at Morndel Academy. There had been so much power pouring into me, I smelled burning flesh and knew I was done. But we had won, and if I had to go, my road to the afterlife would be paved with a hundred thousand Demon Souls.

              Blackness descended and my vision faded.

Chapter 60

              Rictor Hughes paced from one end of the room to the other. Each time he turned back toward the door, he would stare at the man laying in the infirmary bed.

              “Damnit man!” Ivan Jacobs said from the second bed inside of the room, “Pacing back and forth ain’t gonna help him!”

              “There’s gotta be something we can do,” Rictor snapped, “He’s fighting for his life.”

              “It’s a Source Coma, Mr. Hughes,” said the small woman in a nurse uniform who had just walked into the room. “No one has ever survived a Source Coma. He’s already broken all of the records. He’s lasted twenty four hours and the longest was six hours.”

              “It’s not just a coma,” Rictor glared at the nurse, “Don’t you feel how the Pull keeps changing? That’s what it feels like to fight right beside this man. He’s fighting. He’s fighting Death itself.”

              The nurse stepped back at the fierceness in Rictor’s voice.

              “There’s nothing we can do Mr. Hughes,” the girl said, trying to calm him down. But she cringed as he stared into her eyes. She could see something burning in his eyes and she backed out of the room quickly.

              “By God, there is too.” He said savagely, “Prada! Ramirez!”

              Andrea Prada and Luis Ramirez stepped into the room, both looked to the man in the bed as they came in.

              The man’s Pull was weakening as they spoke, “He needs help and Lyrica won’t be here for another ten hours, I’m going to be Support.”

              “They say you can’t support a Source Coma victim, they say it will kill you,” Prada said softly.

              “Then I die with my Captain.”

              Prada stood straighter, “But not alone. Luis call in the Rednecks I want volunteers for some craziness.”

              “Get my damn chair!” Jacobs yelled, “Not much use for a Guard with one leg and one arm, but I can do this!”

***

              Kharl Jaegher snapped out of a sound sleep. He felt a massive Pull from the Academy.

              “What the Hell?”

              “That, my love, would be his Guards doing something incredibly dangerous. They’re supporting him,” Kyra said.

              “Courageous fools,” Kharl mumbled, “Let’s go join em.”

              Kyra smiled, “Let’s do that.”

***

              Lyrica Jayne strode into the infirmary, there were Guards surrounding Colin. The Source was pouring through them. She stepped to his side and looked deep into his Soul. She was sure that the Guards pouring power into him were the only reason he was still alive. She’d felt them Pulling for the last hour on the plane. She could see how drained their Souls were and shook her head in amazement.

              “I’ll take it from here,” she said softly in Rictor Hughes’ ear, “Now it’s time for me to work.”

              Rictor withdrew and with a pleading look said, “You gotta save him, he did this for us.”

              In that instant she saw the memory of the final moments inside that shield flash across Rictor’s aura. She felt the tears that she wanted to shed as she watched her Angel connect directly to the Source to power the cutter.

              “I will,” she said, “now go rest before you fall over.”

              As the Guards pulled back, Lyrica sat and placed her hands on his chest where there was a large patch of scar tissue from the burns inflicted by the Source.

              She reached down deep into the Source and Pulled as she delved into his Soul with her mind.

***

              “You stand before the Council, Sam Keller,” boomed the voice of Archmage Price, “We understand that with your actions, you prevented a catastrophe, but you defied a direct order from the Council.”

              Sam Keller smiled and shook his head.

              “Due to lack of information, it is true that an inadequate force was sent to deal with the situation in Kansas. And therefore, no one under your command will be held accountable for the disobedience. But in any organization, the orders of your superiors have to be upheld. To defy them has it’s own consequences.”

              Sam started laughing.

              “Do you find these charges amusing, Keller?” snapped Luciuos Salvador.

              “As a matter of fact, I do. You really have no idea what’s coming. It’s sad, in its own way. But you’ll see when he wakes up. That’s all that they’re waiting for. When he awakens you all are done.”

              “No one wakes from Source Coma,” Roman Graves said harshly.

              “No one has tied directly to the Source to support themselves as they Pulled from the Streams of over two hundred Guards either,” he shrugged and with a surprised look said, “Oh yeah, I guess someone
did
do that.”

              “That’s impossible!” Allen Denton exclaimed.

              “Really?” Sam returned and started laughing again, “Whatever. When you get through patting yourselves on the back you can let me know what you have in mind for me. I don’t have time for this stupidity.”

              He stood and turned to leave the Council chambers.

              “You will respect the authority of this Council, Mage!” boomed the Archmage.

              “Do you feel that?” Sam turned and they could see the savage joy in the man, “They could feel that in New York! That’s two Soullords, Pulling the world apart! And when they’re done you’ll face the consequences of your treasonous actions!”

              As he said this, he pointed straight at the chest of Archmage Price.

              Then he turned away and walked out of the Council chambers.

***

              “Daphne Cavanaugh, you are standing before Council to face the charges of disobeying a direct order from your superior as pertaining to the...”

              “That’s not exactly why I’m here,” Daphne interrupted, “I’m here to give you warning. The only warning you will receive. Run. Hide.”

              “Has everyone gone insane?” Salvador exclaimed.

              “Maybe,” she said, “When the Soullord awakens, I would suggest you be gone.”

              She turned to leave and Roman Graves stepped in front of her.

              “You are not dismissed,” he paused and sneered, “Guard.”

              “Step aside,” Daphne said with fire in her gaze as she dropped her privacy shield, “or I’ll cut your heart out.”

              His face turned pale and his eyes widened in fear. Daphne Cavanaugh’s Soulstream had swollen as Colin had Pulled the power through it. It had swollen to five times its original size of four inches. She was the most powerful Mage in the whole Council room aside from Price.

              He moved and she strode out.

              “What the hell happened out there?” Allen Denton asked softly.

              Suddenly, the Pulling that everyone had been feeling for the last three days ended.

              Price smiled and said, “Finally. Luciuos, Roman, burn the body.”

              “With pleasure,” Salvador answered.

              “Roman, has your son been dealt with?”

              “Yes, Sir, it’s done,” He answered.

              “Good.”