C18 Chapter Eighteen

After the seeming reality of the dream, Cade was unable to go back to sleep. He decided to make himself useful, so he got up and checked in by radio with the listening posts, knowing that they’d be happy to hear a friendly voice after being alone out in the dark.

Posts One and Two were doing just fine. He was in the midst of speaking with Davis, who was holed up in Post Three, when the other man interrupted mid-sentence. “Hold on a sec, Commander. I think I see…”

Cade glanced out across the darkness in Davis’ direction but was too far away to see anything. A minute passed, then two. He was about to call Davis back when the other man saved him the trouble.

“We’ve got incoming!” Davis shouted into the radio. “Twenty-five to thirty Chiang Shih, maybe more. I lost count. I’m forty yards out and closing.”

The men manning the listening posts had orders to hotfoot it back to camp if they came under attack. Cade was confident that they would make it in time. His warning would also give the team the time needed to be ready before the enemy reached them.

“Stations!” Cade cried, rousing the rest of his troops, and then scrambled to get into position himself.

As he did so, Cade found himself wondering how the Chiang Shih knew they were here. Had they missed a sentry? Tripped some kind of warning system? Was it just dumb, bad luck?

They were about to face a force much larger than he’d ever intended to face and at a time and place not of their choosing. It was going to take all of their skill to get through this. But like any good commander, Cade had made sure his men knew what to do in the event of an attack on their encampment and they reacted as they’d been trained. Seconds after the warning from Davis, the team was lined up in a semi-circle facing the onrushing enemy, protected by the ruins at their backs.

Arrows were notched and shot after shot flew from the Templar ranks, each one unerringly finding its target as the enemy rushed out of the tree line before them. The bows worked as well as Cade had hoped, the physical act of drawing the bowstring infused the weapon with the emotion needed to enable them to operate within the confines of the Beyond.

But it wasn’t enough.

The woods were full of Chiang Shih, with more and more appearing at every moment. It was clear to Cade that if they stayed here they would be overrun.

As much has he hated to give up this position, it hadn’t been designed to withstand a full-on attack. Trying to make a stand against this many of the enemy wasn’t an option. They were a guerilla force, not an army. They had no choice but to retreat back the way they had come. If they could reach the portal before they were cut off, they could rely on Second Squad and the rest of the men that were left behind to cover their retreat and keep the enemy from crossing the Veil.

“Fall back!” Cade cried and like a well-oiled machine, the Templars surged into motion, leapfrogging backward, one group covering the other as they made their way back through the trees toward the road below.

The moon gave them enough light to see by and the team quickly reassembled on the road below. A few of the men had minor wounds, but nothing serious. A count was quickly taken and when he was certain they had everyone with them, they continued onward. Cade estimated they had maybe five minutes lead on the enemy. It wouldn’t take the Chiang Shih long to figure out where they had gone and when they did, it would be a race to see who could reach the portal first.

Cade intended to win that race.

Free of the trees and the surrounding vegetation, they made good time; reaching the outskirts of the town before too long.

A glow lit the horizon ahead of them. Cade had just noticed it when Riley came back down the line, an urgent look on his face.

“They’ve fired the town. If we don’t move quickly, we’ll be cut off.”

His words were all it took to spur the men to redouble their efforts. They charged ahead, the thump of their booted feet the only sounds that passed between them. It wasn’t long before the air was filled with the smell of smoke and burning vegetation, getting thicker as they continued forward.

As they neared the end of town, flames could be seen rising high into the night sky. Cade felt like a rat in a maze and he wondered what they would find when they reached the other side; would the Chiang Shih be waiting for them? Why else would they fire the town, if not to drive them in a certain direction?

But neither he nor the Chiang Shih had remembered that the vegetation had a life of its own. And at that moment, it decided it had had enough.

All about them, the plants reared up, dragging themselves free of their roots and fleeing in every direction. The team was forced to slow down, hunting for paths through the flames that were likely to change with every passing moment.

Like any wounded animal the vegetation reacted blindly to the intense pain caused by the fire, rearing up and slamming themselves back down, trying to put out the flames by beating themsevles against the ground.

Unfortunately, this only served to fan the fire.

A blazing wall of vegetation suddenly swept toward them and Cade was forced to dive to one side to avoid the flames. As he climbed to his feet he discovered that one of their number hadn’t been so fortunate. While most of the team had thrown themselves to the left, Duncan had dived in the other direction and was now cut off by the surging flames.

To make matters worse, the front ranks of the enemy had finally caught up to them. Realizing he couldn’t reach Cade and the others, Duncan turned to face the enemy.

Alone.

Flynn didn’t hesitate. Screaming Duncan’s name, he charged through the growing fire, intent on saving his teammate.

The flames flared up again, preventing Cade from following, and he could only stand and watch and pray.

For a moment he lost sight of Flynn, his view obscured by the smoke and flames, but then he reappeared, this time on the other side of the conflagration. One arm of his uniform was ablaze, but he ignored it, fighting like a demon from hell itself. His sword rose and fell, rose and fell, as he chopped and slashed his way through the ranks of the enemy.

Duncan must have taken heart at Flynn’s appearance for his own struggles suddenly intensified. Like a man possessed he slashed at the Chiang Shih within reach, all the while deflecting the various blows that reigned down upon him.

For a moment Cade thought he might be witnessing a miracle, that the two men might prevail against the superior numbers and strength of the enemy surrounding them.

Please Lord , he thought.

Flynn stumbled, his sword dipping slightly as he fought to maintain his balance, and one of the waiting Chiang Shih took advantage of the opening, reaching past the Templar’s blade and slashing its razor sharp claws across Flynn’s unprotected throat.

Blood and flesh flew.

Flynn jerked upright like a puppet on strings, his free hand going to the ruin of his throat. Cade could see the shock and surprise in the other man’s gaze, could see the sudden awareness blossoming there that this was it, he’d fought his last battle, and there wouldn’t be any last minute rescue.

Duncan must have seen it too, for he screamed in rage and pain and attempted to reach his wounded teammate.

With a final glance in Cade’s direction, and perhaps a look of apology to go with it, Flynn collapsed and quickly disappeared beneath the swarming horde of the enemy.

With Flynn’s defeat the fight seemed to go out of Duncan. He fought on for another moment, maybe two, before taking a savage blow to the back of his head and collapsing.

In the space of a heartbeat, Cade lost two of his best men.

It’s worse than that, he thought. I’ve lost two of my friends.

He couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. They were supposed to have surprised the enemy, not the other way around. Flynn wasn’t supposed to die. Neither was Duncan. They were supposed to be right here, fighting at his side, not lying bloody and cold amidst the ranks of the enemy….

Someone was shouting at him, pulling on his arm, and it took him a moment to refocus, to sweep the horrible image of his friends’ deaths from his sight.

“We’ve got to get out of here! Now!” Riley shouted again.

The fire was almost upon them and if they stayed where they were another moment they’d perish, swallowed alive by the raging flames. Still Cade resisted. He stared through the smoke and flames, determined to know for certain whether Duncan was dead.

His diligence was rewarded. Through a break in the smoke he saw two of the enemy lift Duncan by his arms and begin dragging him off the field of battle. Duncan was struggling feebly against this captors, but the fight had clearly been beaten out of him. Cade didn’t know why the Chiang Shih would want to keep the other man alive, but for now he was simply grateful that they did.

“Cade!” Riley yelled and this time Cade nodded to show he’d understood and followed Riley as he led him down the narrow trail the others had taken, away from the inferno.

Hang on, Duncan, he thought, just hang on. We’ll be back for you.

I promise.

CHAPTER NINTEEN

Duncan clung to consciousness the way a drowning man clings to a life preserver, knowing that if he passed out he might never wake up again. His captors had him by the arms and were dragging him along so that his legs scraped against the rocky ground, the sharp stones tearing his clothing and digging into his flesh. He was too weak to do anything except occasionally lift his head and look around.

They brought him down out of the hills and through the center of the Chiang Shih encampment. Faces loomed on all sides as they moved through the crowd. He was unable to focus on any of them, his pain and exhaustion pushing him to his limit. More than once he was struck from behind as he passed, but the blows were nothing compared to what he had already endured and so he ignored them, needing all of his energy to keep from passing out.

He was clearly losing the battle, for with a sort of dazed recognition he realized they had left the mob behind and were now inside a room. The walls were of concrete and in certain places he could see the steel rods that ran through them were the masonry had started to crumble and flake. Duncan was dumped unceremoniously in the center of the floor. He landed on his wounded shoulder and the pain tore through him like a freight train, but it also served to clear his head, and for that he was grateful.

He slowly pushed himself up by his hands and shook his head, clearing some of the cobwebs. He realized that the sound of the crowd outside was incredibly muted in here and he had a moment to wonder just how deep inside the building he actually was before a door on the other side of the room opened and someone joined them.

The man was tall and fit, which in a camp of warriors was to be expected, but unlike all of the other Chiang Shih that Duncan had seen so far this man was not of Asian descent. He was Caucasian, with blonde hair and blue eyes. An angry red scar ran across his throat, evidence of a close call at some point in the past.

He was dressed like a biker in a dark shirt, leather pants, and thick soled riding boots. But it was the ring on his right hand that drew Duncan’s attention, the ring with a ruby stone in the shape of the Templar cross.

Seeing it, Duncan suddenly understood just who was behind this whole operation.

Bishop.

Cade’s former teammate.

But what did he want with Echo?

Duncan suspected he was about to find out.

Bishop waved his hand and the two soldiers who had brought the prisoner in began to kick and beat him mercilessly. Given his current condition, it didn’t take long for Duncan to pass out.

When he came to, however many minutes or hours later, they started again. Their fists and boots slammed into him, striking his back, his stomach, his legs, his wounded shoulder, over and over again, until he couldn’t take anymore and passed out again.

The third time around, he awoke to find himself alone in the room with Bishop. The other man sat on a stool close by, watching, and when he saw Duncan was awake he said, “Welcome back. I think it’s time that you and I had us a bit of a talk.”

With a start, Duncan realized that he was secured against the wall, his arms and legs stretched out to either side and bound in manacles. The chains had been pulled so tight that he couldn’t move.

He was utterly at the other man’s mercy.

“I want to know the makeup and armament of all Templar units within the city limits. If you tell me what I want to know, I’ll make things easier for you.”

Duncan’s mouth was so swollen and dry that he couldn’t speak. Bishop called out in a language Duncan didn’t understand and a few moments later another Chiang Shih entered the room carrying a bucket of water. Using a ladle, he spooned out a few mouthfuls, pouring the water into Duncan’s mouth.

Duncan swallowed, choked, and swallowed again. The water felt like heaven.

When he recovered his voice, he looked at Bishop and said carefully, “Fuck you.”

The other man grinned.

“I was hoping you would say that.”

He got up off the stool and walked slowly in Duncan’s direction. As he did so, he held up one hand and Duncan could only watch in horror as the flesh on his limb began to shift and churn, transforming itself before his very eyes into a strange, jagged-edged instrument.

Bishop stood beside him, still grinning, and began to apply the edge of his newly formed limb to Duncan’s tender flesh.

Duncan’s shrieks of pain went on for a long time.