Tome of Bill (Companion): Shining Fury (18 page)

Impossible! Yet not, and at the worst of times, too. How could I hope to win against an enemy like the Jahabich without it?

Despair filled me as I stared at where it lay, the faint glow around the blade fading to nothing.

It was almost as if the weapon had renounced me, having sensed my doubt.

And that’s when it hit me. Maybe it did. An Icon’s power was based on belief. This weapon had been wielded by at least one other, absorbing their latent power along with mine. When I wielded the sword properly, my power felt amplified. Perhaps, though, when doubt clouded my actions, it affected the weapon the same way … diminishing it until it was almost negatively polarized against me.

Crazy of a theory as it might be, it was worth a try.

I closed my eyes and cleared my head. The sounds of battle faded around me as I concentrated on the good, the positive. In my mind’s eye I pictured my mother, my family, my friends. I saw the company I’d started, the coworkers I shared laughs with, the man who’d believed in me when I needed it most, who’d set me on this path. All of them could be lost if I didn’t prevail.

I wouldn’t allow that.

Remington terrified me, but the thought of losing those I loved frightened me more. The many were stronger than the one, and it was my duty to protect them all.

I opened my eyes and gazed upon the sword, lying just beyond the reach of my outstretched hand. It was glowing brighter than ever.

It was time to end this farce and go save my friends.

I reached out and grasped the hilt. The weapon blazed furiously in my grasp, and I felt something akin to the very Earth rumbling beneath me, my power fusing with its into one – our purpose certain.

Unfortunately, that’s when I realized it hadn’t been my imagination or some weird metaphor of my state of mind. The ground really was shaking.

Any lasting impression I might have wanted to make as I turned to do battle vanished as I lost my footing and fell unceremoniously onto my butt.

The rumbling increased. A sound like a million trees being split rent the air and I turned toward its source. A crack had opened in the Earth a dozen yards away, back in the direction of the group that our Templar allies were still pinning down.

I watched horrified as a section of the street collapsed in on itself. The police cruiser nearest it teetered on the edge before falling in. Surely this didn’t bode well for us. Had our battle weakened the very foundation of the street itself, or was this some new ploy by our enemy?

Sadly, there wasn’t time to discern which as the sound of groaning metal and shattering masonry directed my attention above me. The side of the building, already damaged by the bus we’d diverted into it, gave way.

Rubble, seemingly tons of it, rained down from above, and there was no time to move out of its path.

The rain of debris momentarily blotted out the light of day, but then my aura sprang to life, compensating for the darkness.

Rubble deflected off the power surrounding me, landing all around. Sadly, though it kept me from physical harm, it didn’t do anything to keep out the dust plume that instantly rose up.

I lowered my head into the crook of my arm and coughed, clearing my lungs.

When I looked back up again, I caught glimpses of light cutting through the dust – a red beam of power, Kelly’s purple shield, and then multiple orange orbs, dim at first, but getting brighter.

No, make that
closer
.

It was the Jahabich, a lot of them. As the dust settled, I could see their bulky forms marching out of the Boston underground via the fissure they’d opened.

“Here!”

I heeded the call and started back toward Kelly’s direction.

More dust got into my nose and I closed my eyes to sneeze, only to feel the slightest current of air tickling the back of my neck.

My instincts kicked in and I ducked, opening my eyes just in time to see the Jahabich’s arm swing over me. It spun, attempting to use its other arm to finish what the first had missed. Not Cynthia, then.

Not that it mattered at this point.

Its backswing met the edge of my blade. Had it been a normal weapon, it would have surely shattered and I’d have been left with broken ribs or worse. Powered by my aura, though, it was a thing of terrible power and beauty. The creature’s arm was cleaved off, and I followed through with a spinning swing of my own that bisected its head at the jawline.

I didn’t stick around to gloat. Those things had apparently invited lots of friends to the party. Fortunately, I didn’t have far to go.

Meg, Kelly, and a half dozen Templar stood in a semi-circle. Behind them lay Vincent and a few of his wounded knights. Veronica was there, too, still on the ground but sitting up and conscious.

I locked eyes with Kelly and she smiled weakly, obviously glad to be back in the fight properly, although for how long was debatable. She looked to be on the verge of exhaustion.

Meg noticed our meaningful glance and said, “Just for the record, I didn’t see anything of interest from my bird’s-eye view.”

I nodded my thanks. Many secrets had been shared this day and it wouldn’t do for any of them to get out.

Zombies to the left of us, Jahabich to the right. Fortunately, I was stuck in the middle with some very good company.

* * *

Christy had taught her sisters well. Their first barrage, beams of pure heat – hot enough that the intensity even penetrated my aura – fused several of the Jahabich vanguard in place, instantly creating obstacles for the rest to maneuver around and cover for us against any stray gunfire coming from beyond.

Though that last one worried me the most, it seemed to be the least of our concerns at the moment. The firefight continuing behind the Jahabich assault had lessened considerably in intensity. That human reinforcements hadn’t bolstered the rocky abominations spoke of the hope that Bernadette’s people and the ones still on the rooftop had possibly regained the advantage.

We couldn’t do much more than hope, though. All available hands already had more than their fair share to contend with. At my signal, four of the Templar broke off to engage any remaining zombie stragglers. Neither their weapons nor implements of faith would do much against the Jahabich.

The rest, pretty banged up but still functional, stayed behind to protect the wounded.

That left the Jahabich to me and the trio of witches. More like two and a half, really. Veronica was awake enough to sync up with Kelly, but a bit too shaky to mount much of an offense herself.

We were outnumbered at least four to one. It seemed as if our foes had finally decided that playtime was over.

I glanced back toward the witches. “If this doesn’t count as a distraction, I don’t know what does.”

“Then we’ll keep distracting them as long as we can,” Meg said, concentrating another blast of energy and melting the asphalt at one of the creature’s feet, causing it to stumble and fall.

I considered her words. No. That was a losing strategy at best. We had no avenue of retreat, and even if we did, we’d never make it with our wounded.

It was time we turned this around. “Keep them from surrounding me.”

“What are you doing?” Kelly called.

I meant to tell her that I was only doing what I was meant to, but I was already on the move.

* * *

Against the Jahabich, my power was less an impenetrable shield and more a thick casing of metaphysical bubble wrap. It muted the awesome strength behind their blows, but couldn’t stop them entirely.

If enough of them encircled me, it would be all over.

Thus it was time for me to have faith in someone else for a change. I needed to trust that the witches behind me truly had my back while making sure I was a tempting enough target to hold these monsters’ attention.

“
Take her
,” one of the creatures said, pointing at me with its lone club-like arm – Cynthia.

The entire force of the Jahabich turned in my direction. That was one concern out of the way. Now to sweeten the pot before they got any bright ideas about splitting their forces.

I fed power into my blade and met the nearest of the creatures. Ducking low, I took out one of its tree trunk legs at the knee.

It fell over toward me, and I was forced to roll out of the way. I came up quickly, though, just in time to parry another. Thankfully, Cynthia’s reinforcements lacked the corrupted blades she and her two other friends had engaged us with.

That still didn’t put the odds in my favor, but it was one less thing to worry about. Considering how the day had been going, I’d take whatever small victory I could.

A lance of power flashed off somewhere in my periphery – one of the witches. Two more of the Jahabich converged on me, one swinging high and the other low. Thankfully they left just enough of a gap in between for me to dive through. I landed, spun, and drove my empowered blade straight through the back of the leftmost one.

It was a mistake. I had no idea if these things had vital organs or not. Worse, though my power imbued the weapon with preternatural durability, it wasn’t like cutting into butter. The sword sank a good foot into the Jahabich’s armored back and then got stuck. I silently cursed my stupidity.

“What?” I heard a voice, Meg’s, cry out. “Then tell them to get their asses back here.”

I didn’t have time to wonder what that was about. As I struggled to free my sword, another of the beasts stepped in. Fortunately, while these things might’ve been tough, they didn’t seem to possess a great deal of individual cunning.

It swung wildly at me, and I ducked just in time for the blow to connect solidly with the back of its friend’s head, sending shards of rock flying and loosening my blade enough for me to free it and take both of the creatures out of the fight.

I glanced up and saw the Cynthia-thing still standing where it had been, away from the rest. Its soulless orange eyes continued to stare at me, but whatever emotions or thoughts it had were shielded behind the unreadable countenance of its perpetually grinning face.

More flares of power flashed from somewhere behind, reminding me that I had more than just Cynthia to worry about ... although hopefully Meg and Kelly had further dwindled our enemies’ ranks.

Gunshots sounded from close by, and I couldn’t help but involuntarily flinch. Crap! Were the enthralled police mounting another counterattack?

Sparks seemed to flare against Cynthia’s skin, but then another of the beasts stepped in to engage me. A quick parry later, and a splash of orange sludge sprayed out of the Jahabich, sizzling and evaporating as it touched my aura.

I took a moment to glance Cynthia’s way again just in time to see more bullets ricochet off her. It was then that I saw Bernadette. She led her contingent of Templar our way, converging from an angle so as to not hit us with friendly fire.

“Send these devils back to their masters!” she shouted, aiming her own weapon.

Cynthia didn’t even flinch under the assault. She just continued to stand where she was, glaring my way. The only indication she gave that she was even alive was the glow from her eyes and a slight cocking of her head as if she was contemplating something.

I was just about to shout out for Bernadette to help the others and clear out any remaining undead, when I realized I was mistaken.

Cynthia wasn’t contemplating, she was waiting.

“
Now!
” she commanded, and all of the remaining Jahabich in the area echoed her remark.

Now what?

I sensed movement behind me and spun to meet it. These creatures were thankfully not all that light on their feet. However, just as I brought up my sword to block its attack, a red hot glow of power surrounded it.

Way to go, witches!

I turned back toward Cynthia, ready to charge her.

It was a mistake.

The Jahabich slammed into my backside before it could be fused solid. My aura engulfed it, dampening the magic being poured into it. Before I could do anything to compensate, it was upon me ... an angry mass of red hot, nearly molten rock.

It grabbed me from behind. Its arms pinned mine to my sides, and it pressed its body painfully against my own before it stopped moving, finally fused into place.

I’d assumed the Jahabich to be little more than minions, fire ants fighting blindly for their master. Instead, I’d been the blind one. I’d underestimated them, a mistake that could very well prove to be my downfall.

I was in agony. The creature’s skin was like a thousand red-hot teeth cutting into me from every direction.

Though my aura somewhat muted the damage, the creature’s semi-immunity to my power ensured that I wasn’t fully protected. The heat alone was unbearable. I cried out, my flesh sizzling at its touch.

I could smell my own hair burning where the monster’s granite teeth poked into the back of my neck. It was small comfort, but had the creature not fused into place when it had, it could have been worse.

It was still pretty bad, though. I was trapped fast, like a rat.

My sword was still in hand, but with the limited range of motion afforded my arms, pinned as they were, the most I could do was wave it around as far as my wrists would bend. Even with the power coursing through the blade, I would have been hard pressed to slice an apple, much less one of these things.

“Blessed One!”

“Sheila!”

My predicament had definitely been noticed. Unfortunately, the others couldn’t do much to help me without putting themselves at risk. Equally as important, Bill and his friends were counting on us. Jeopardizing their lives was not only unacceptable, it was also foolish. Vehron was the true target. Everything else was ancillary, even my life.

“Don’t worry about me!” I shouted defiantly. “Save the wounded and finish the mission!”

“Fuck that noise!” came the response from Kelly. Good thing she couldn’t see me rolling my eyes from her vantage point.

Cynthia apparently noticed it, though, because she raised her remaining arm and the rest of the Jahabich began to encircle me ... or I assumed they did. My view behind me was mostly blocked, and trying to shift around did little more than open new cuts on my already lacerated arms and back.