"My mother will help," Wyn Renna said. "Just get me to that radio."
"I'm with her," the other elf said, looking at Wyn Renna with near reverence.
"Quel surpris," said Jay sarcastically in what Angie recognized was French, having heard it before in one of the many movies on disc in the Home Guard’s Bunker. Jay earned a dirty look from the elven warrior who clearly understood the tone if not the words.
Rowan turned his attention to Tec. "That leaves you, my friend."
Angie watched him, knowing how badly he had taken the death of his dragon master. Is he up for this?
"I've spent my life fighting those people," Tec said. "I'm willing to die fighting them."
Rowan sighed, smoothing the ends of his mustache with his thumb and forefinger. "Okay, then. We attack."
Chapter 4
Just after four thirty a.m., Angie crouched behind a short stone wall next to a farmhouse in the mountain village that offered an unobstructed view of the church on the hill. Rowan and the others—his brothers, Tec, Tavi, and the two elves—knelt in a line alongside Angie. Erin had climbed atop a nearby barn with a scoped rifle. Angie wore her NVGs but saw nothing moving atop the hill. Angie hadn't seen as much as a cat, but with four werewolves and a were-jaguar in the village, the animals likely hid.
She knew she would have.
The assault force was armed with an assortment of weapons they had salvaged from the helicopter wreck: more of the silenced sub-guns, an assault rifle, and the scoped sniper rifle Erin used. Deldin Gar carried only a short sword and had refused a firearm, while Angie and Tavi both carried hexed swords. Wyn Renna had only a pistol, which put her at extreme risk against the Tzitzime mage and his hexed weapon. Angie had already decided she’d take on the mage personally. She had no idea what kind of a swordsman he was, but she had bested Nathan, the best fencer she knew, and was confident she could take care of herself.
Nine people against an entire platoon in a fortified outpost seemed like terrible odds, but numbers weren’t always the most important factor. Each member of the Seagrave family had enhanced speed and strength. Rowan was an ex-SEAL, Casey was a brute, Erin was an expert shot, and even with only one good arm, Jay was frighteningly quick and strong. Both Tavi and Wyn Renna were trained combat mages, and Deldin Gar had proven his worth during the battle in the underground temple. Then there was Tec, the were-jaguar, who had been waging a one-man war against the Tzitzime for years. Unlike the Seagraves, who were slaves to the moon's cycles, Tec could shift into a monstrously powerful all-black were-jaguar whenever he wanted. She had seen him rip apart a dozen Tzitzime cultists. He didn’t like shifting because he always ran the risk of losing himself in the beast, but he would do it if the situation became dire.
And then there was Angie herself.
As a source mage, the only one of her kind, she was immeasurably more powerful than other mages. And she was bonded with the Shade King, a supernatural entity orders of magnitude above other shades. She didn’t understand exactly how her magic worked—nor did it always work the way she wanted it to—but when it did, she was a powerhouse. Like crazy strong.
The Aztalans had no idea what was about to hit them.
She saw no lights atop the hill. If the enemy was disciplined, they’d all be awake before first light, but Rowan had decided to hit them while they were still in their blankets. Rowan insisted the best fights were always one-sided and over before the enemy realized they had begun.
Rowan, his face smeared with paint, touched Angie's shoulder. She gave him a curt nod, closed her eyes, and cast out her life-sense magic. The church flared with life forms, each a horse or person. The soldiers, at least she guessed they were the soldiers, lay about the church's courtyard. The prisoners likely slept as well, but they were all huddled together in a mass in a corner next to the stable. Now there were three sentries: the one in the bell tower and two more moving about the interior. She opened her eyes and held up three fingers to Rowan, who nodded. He looked up to Erin atop the nearby barn roof and held three fingers for her.
Erin, her wolf eyes flashing green, fiddled with the scope on her rifle. Then, sitting on her bum atop the slope of the roof, her legs bent before her, and her elbows resting on the insides of her knees, she placed the rifle tight into her shoulder and took aim. Even from atop the roof, Erin would only be able to see the sentry in the bell tower, but if she didn't kill him with the first shot, he'd raise the alarm. Then they'd have to assault a roused outpost.
Angie closed her eyes once more and cast out her life-sense, focusing on the sentry in the bell tower. The wait couldn't have been longer than a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity, and then, almost coming as a surprise, Erin fired. Her rifle was equipped with a long sound suppressor, but the shot was still surprisingly loud, and a pair of bats bolted from the open doorway of the barn. The life force of the sentry in the tower blinked out of existence.
Angie held her breath as she scanned the other two sentries. Both men had frozen in place, clearly having heard the suppressed shot. Sound traveled at night, and there was little chance the men could have mistaken it for anything other than a rifleshot. But Angie and the others had heard hunters for days now, especially at night. In a small mountain village like this, hunting was part of life, and many animals were nocturnal. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until the two sentries began moving again, once more patrolling the fort.
So far, so good.
She turned to Rowan. "Ten and three," she whispered, using clock numbers to let him know the relative positions of the last two sentries inside the church's courtyard.
Without a word, Rowan rose smoothly and began running forward, his sub-gun ready for firing. Tec, Casey, and Jay were a heartbeat behind him, each man moving silently for the stone wall surrounding the church atop the hill. Erin climbed down from the barn, slung her sniper rifle, and readied her own sub-gun before rushing after her brothers. Angie looked to Tavi, who also wore NVGS, and saw the other woman was watching her, waiting for Angie's cue.
Soon.
As the others hit the hill, they picked up speed. All were barefoot, and Angie knew what would come next. Without even slowing, Rowan scaled the eight-foot-high stone wall, scrambling over it in seconds. His brothers and Tec were right behind him, with Erin only seconds later.
And now the killing starts. A heavy weight settled in Angie’s stomach.
She didn't like fighting and hated killing, but this was war. She closed her eyes and cast out her life-sense magic one last time. Five figures, shining like torches, slipped through the church's courtyard. Two of the five moved like sharks, going straight for the patrolling sentries, who didn’t realize death was coming for them. When the life force of both sentries winked out, Angie opened her eyes and rose into a crouch, her heart pounding.
It was time.
Holding her sub-gun tight in her shoulder, Angie motioned for the others to follow and set off at a trot toward the church. Tavi, Wyn Renna, and Deldin Gar raced along behind her. Deldin Gar had made it clear that no matter what, he would stay at Wyn Renna’s side. Angie ran up the path to the church, only slightly out of breath when she reached the top. The wrought iron gates were open. She pushed through just as the gunfire started.