Chapter 24

“Load ‘em up, cowboy,” Liam called out in the worst imitation of a western drawl from a man with a Welsh accent. Intern bounced between the various staff responsible for organizing and loading the guests while waving his clipboard. Jack stood inside the front doors examining the activity from behind two ogres.

He had woken up with second thoughts about evacuation and continued with third and fourth waves of unease as he absently downed a plate of food he did not taste. With no word from the colonel, Jack felt his hand had been forced. The resort was not a fortress, and the safety of these people was in jeopardy. Any of the restaurant windows, or the lounge windows, or the foyer windows would shatter with one impact. No one was coming to their rescue from the human side who had the weapons and armor to deflect bullets and grenades.

He gripped his staff firmly in his right hand, allowing the foot to rest on the marble floor. Despite the rough and tumble of yesterday afternoon, there were no new marks or scratches on the wood. He felt like the shepherd about to release his flock to the fields, watching them pass under his staff.

As he politely wished the guests goodbye, he tried to portray himself as a concerned and stalwart fellow. The guests were subdued, peering around the carriages and carts as if they could spy the trouble before it found them. Jack was doing much the same. Even Dr. Kat would not look him in the eye. He knew the folk had patrols out scouring the land a bit beyond where a human eye could see, but their presence did not ease his worry.

He had sent a courier to the border crossing yesterday to request an escort this morning. The courier had not returned nor had an escort appeared. Jack felt abandoned. Even the greeting of a horde of mixed orcs and elves, all armed, did little to quell the turmoil in his gut.

He felt something brush his elbow, making him start. Scoobee smiled up at him with a roc’s feather tucked behind her ear. She bowed silently to the guests as they passed.

With a focus that pleased Jack, Intern situated the guests in the carriages and the wagons with efficiency and haste. With an agreement to leave all their possessions but a handheld satchel, they managed to fit the guests into one caravan. The horses were jumpy, but Jack determined that everyone was equally tense and concerned.

He gave a silent cue to Intern, waving his staff high. The first driver flicked the reins and the carriages, one by one, began to lurch forward. Jack stepped out into the covered drive to watch the caravan continue down the drive. Overhead, the rocs began to circle.

Jack continued to the other side of the drive across from the front of the lobby, waving briefly to the orcs and elves who had formed up to walk alongside the caravan as guards. He did not recognize any of their faces, but their presence gave him heart. He stood straighter under the early morning sun.

“What’s that?” Scoobee asked. Jack looked to where she was pointing. At the border of the lawn and forest across from the restaurant on their left, he watched three men emerge, human men dressed in fatigues.

“We’re under attack!” Jack shouted as he ran towards the men. The orcs surrounding raced past him towards the men while the elves drew bows and fired off a volley of arrows. The three humans ducked back into trees before the arrows found a mark.

“Go faster,” Jack yelled toward Intern. Jack watched a roc dive into the canopy with an angry scree of a raptor. A weapon burped and the angry screech was cut out. “They’re over there,” Jack pointed. More arrows flew. Two ogres lumbered past him and plunged into the shrubbery. Jack heard a magic stave fire and the screech of human voice.

The last of the carts rolled down the driveway when an explosion shook the ground. Smoke rose above the canopy. Jack looked back, making sure the caravan was still moving before returning to scanning the tree line. Scoobee moved ahead of him, moving parallel to the line of trees. Her hand was extended as if she was feeling the threads for the alien feet that pressed down on them.

“This way, Jack,” she said. “They are moving toward the great freebok tree over there. Her roots are screaming in agony.”

Jack did not understand what she was saying but he clearly heard her command to move towards the towering tree with the purple flowers whose petals hung like long bird feathers. A platoon of elves, some armed with bows and others with magic staves, drew up next to him. Another explosion sounded and the tree shook violently before tilting across the lawn towards the building. Another roc dove down beneath the canopy.

A human screamed again, nearby. Jack and Scoobee ran towards the sound.

Three men re-emerged from the forest where the tree had almost collapsed. Jack saw Scoobee point her stave and fire as he leveled his staff. She seemed to jump into the air, only to be thrown backwards as bright flashes of fire came from the three humans.

Jack’s world narrowed and slowed. He reached out for the three humans with his staff and felt their lives pulsing in the weave. As he reached to snuff out their lives, he realized he was burning the very threads of the weave he was trying to preserve. He watched Scoobee’s magic burst encapsulate the men, turning their skin into bark and then, he understood. He thrust his staff forward, releasing a mighty surge to rip into the core of each human’s self-contained threads and bind them utterly to weave under their feet. They would be no longer human.