Chapter 78

The first ones in were the Mages, aided by the Seers. We set about carefully allocating areas in which we could attack the massed Sidhe now starting to arrive in the small valley and setting up an orderly encampment. For this we were all wearing a new specialised amulet that gave the impression that we were a small harmless animal, one that the Sidhe specifically did not hunt. We were met and guided to the sites by forces operating under Verenestra, all of whom it seemed couldn’t do enough for us, which was a very odd place to be in with regards to normal Sidhe/human relations. The second thing we did upon finding these areas was to ward them with Heinrich wards, as they were now known, which sealed them off to a mind-scan, giving the impression that there simply wasn’t anything there.

Once these areas were set up, our scouts were allowed in, werewolves under the command of Marja and her second Leonova and the Nosferatu of the Juwes clan all of whom moved to the boundaries of the hidden zones and used their natural senses to keep an eye on things, just in case some of the enemy took it into their heads to go hunting.

“This place feels very wrong, John,” Marja said to me as we went over zones of responsibility.

“The returned Daoine Sidhe draw their power from the Outer Realms and that energy corrupts anything it comes into contact with on this side,” I replied noting Leonova giving me evils for some reason or another.

“Guess that explains why Adok thought Goibhniu was simply wrong,” chuckled Marja.

“He certainly wasn’t wrong about him. He couldn’t do much damage on his own, but in a group it’s like a form of cancer,” I agreed.

“Glad I didn’t bite him,” Marja replied with a wry smile.

“That might not have been too clever,” I chuckled.

“Well, the ordinary ones taste bad enough. God alone knows how a leprous one tastes,” Marja replied.

“Well, we don’t want your people mixing it up with them, Marja. There’s just too many ... at least until we’ve whittled them down somewhat,” I added.

“I know, John. I agreed with Morgana’s plan,” Marja acknowledged.

“Pah, typical human cowardice!” Leonova said for the first time.

“Who rattled your cage?” I enquired.

“You kill at a distance, you know nothing of honour,” she snarled.

“Is this going to be a problem?” I asked Marja.

“She’s a man hater. That’s why Adok’s over at one of the other encampments, otherwise he’d have killed her by now,” Marja explained.

“Man and human?” I asked watching Leonova getting more livid by the second.

“Yes, John. Her pack is all female and they cause nothing but trouble for the other packs, to the point where they have to leave our Earth for the Wolf world or die. Only my father was willing to allow them out and only if they assisted us here. The final say so will be Morgana’s, not mine,” Marja explained.

“May I suggest you keep quiet unless you have something constructive to add to any decisions involving our strategy,” I said, facing Leonova for the first time. “You really do not want to have a Mage irritated with you, nor do you want to irritate the friends of Mages, such as Adok and Marja.”

“If it were not for our need to escape our Earth I would tear your throat out, human male, and to hell with the consequences,” Leonova snarled.

“Try it,” I chuckled.

Leonova immediately began to flow into her wolf form before giving a startled squeal as I used my mind to force her back into being human.

“What have you done?” she gasped, looking suddenly afraid for the first time.

“Locked you out of the change,” I replied. “Any Mage can do this. Mostly we wouldn’t bother as our dealings with the clans tend to be on their occasional attacks by their young on humans and that’s a death sentence. However it is possible as you can see and as I said, you do not want to go irritating a Mage as we’re very much aware of you at all times when you’re around us.”

“Turn it back on ... please,” she begged. “I pledge on the honour of the Lycana Belikovna that we will honour the compact, both to the letter and the spirit.”

“Thank you,” I replied, allowing her to flow to the wolf form and back again before stumbling off in shock.

“Didn’t know you could do that, John,” Marja chuckled. “But it was bloody worth it, that bitch has been stirring up trouble since we came.”

“Kind of guessed that,” I replied. “I admire your restraint too, but we don’t need anyone here who’s not with the plan.”

“It’s a good plan. It might kill us all, but it’s good,” Marja chuckled.

“Yep, they only have to get lucky once and it could all unravel,” I noted. “If she’s going to be an issue, let me know and I’ll have her removed and her change ability revoked.”

“Yes, boss,” Marja replied with a grin before heading off to her people’s encampment.

“You scared the shit out of her, John,” Nell said as she dropped out of a tree to land silently next to me.

“She needed it,” I replied. “Are all your people settled in?”

“Yes, you’ll have lots of warning if they get frisky,” Nell replied with a grin.

“Let’s hope we don’t need it,” I chuckled.

“Indeed, John, otherwise it’s the ‘it’s going to hell’ plan, and we really don’t want to implement that one,” she replied wryly.

“Tomorrow we’re bringing our high tech allies in, same rules apply to them as did in Rwanda,” I stated.

“Of course, John, friends wouldn’t do otherwise,” Nell replied formulaically.

“It is good to have the Juwes as friends,” I replied in the same vein.

“The honour is mutual, John,” Nell acknowledged.

“Make sure your people know the safe ways back to the gates, Nell. If they stray, it will not go well for them,” I added.

“We know this, John. The other approaches will be liberally strewn with mines and claymores,” she nodded.

“Yes, the entire plan hinges on removing their ability to escape or communicate, hitting them hard and getting away afterwards,” I chuckled.

“You can rely on Clan Juwes to do their part, John,” Nell replied.

“It’s not Clan Juwes that worries me, my friend,” I stated.

“Understandable, but we work with what we have,” Nell noted as Thea, who was in charge of this encampment, approached.

“I don’t know what you said or did to Leonova, but her pack has suddenly got very, very cooperative, John,” she chuckled.

“Stopped her changing. She took it very badly,” I replied with a chuckle.

“Yes, that would do it,” she replied with a grin.

“Well at least Marja won’t have to have Adok deal with it,” I said.

“Marja would probably have killed her herself,” Thea replied.

“Not without backup. Leonova’s Lycana are all here as they won’t work under another wolf’s orders and the Zielona Gora Lycana are needed elsewhere as we know we can trust them,” I added.

“That’s true, John. Now, come to the command tent, we have guests. You too, Nell, please,” Thea replied.

We wandered through the dense woods to the command tent where Thea kept an eye on the situation aided by several Sidhe, Mages and a Seer. Inside we were met by Lochagos Gindo and Olmer who both greeted me with broad smiles.

“Not going to be easy this one,” I said after the greetings.

“We know, John,” Olmer replied. “That’s why Dorry is at home, forbidden to travel by Rowenna.”

“Bet that went down well,” I chuckled seeing Gindo trying to hide a grin too.

“I may be paying for it for a number of centuries,” Olmer chuckled wryly.

“Glad you’re here though, all the same,” I replied.

“We know what we have to do. We’re the tip of the spear to get through to the evil at the centre; after that it’s the job of the Mages to take them down,” Olmer replied as Gindo nodded agreement.

“Kill anyone or anything that gets in our way,” Thea stated.

“We’ll give it a damned good shot,” chuckled Gindo. “We have the adapted ammo you suggested too, for the rail guns.”

“Hopefully that will cause them conniptions,” I chuckled.

The next day saw the arrival of warriors and soldiers from Murias, Craebh Ruadh and the Æsir. These were divided up between the three encampments along with the Special Forces from Earth and the Sidhe of Verenestra’s people. In all we had three semi-fortified areas each containing nearly five hundred people all ready, willing and able to take the fight to the assembled Sidhe in the valley below. Morgana was in overall command and was based in one encampment with Arch and Thea commanding the two others. Róisín was with Arch and Jemima as well as Abi, whilst Morgana had Simone helping her. Our Seer Adsila was new to me, though she knew Thea well and meshed with the setup we had to ensure our portal remained undetectable. All we were waiting for now was the arrival of the returned Daoine Sidhe to start their meeting and then we’d go in and hopefully take out their high command.

“Why here?” I asked Thea as darkness fell.

“Why here, what John?” she asked.

“Why is Goibhniu calling a meeting here in the middle of bloody nowhere?” I asked.

“According to Verenestra its tradition for the High Daoine Sidhe to seek out the serenity of nature as they meditate their battle plans,” Thea replied.

“Surrounded by ten thousand warriors?” I chuckled.

“I didn’t make the rules, John,” she said with a grin. “However, if they don’t do it this way apparently their ancestors will not look kindly on the task in hand.”

“Ancestor worship?” I asked.

“More observance of tradition, they don’t tend to venerate their ancestors as they mostly were the ones who killed them,” Thea chuckled.

“Sounds about right,” I chuckled. “Though the ones we have here seem OK.”

“They’ve seen what will happen to their people if they don’t walk away from old hates and attitudes,” Thea replied. “That and they venerate Verenestra and to a certain extent Mage William.”

“Task Force Thea this is Morgana actual, respond, over,” came Morgana’s voice over the encrypted radio Thea carried.

“Thea actual, go ahead Morgana, over,” Thea replied.

“Attack begins in fifty minutes from my mark ... mark, over,” Morgana stated.

“Fifty minutes, roger, over,” Thea replied.

“Morgana out,” Morgana noted as the radio went dead.

“Game on,” murmured Thea.

“I’ll alert the troops,” I replied and hurried off.

Our warriors moved silently out of the warded area protected by their amulets. The wolves led the way, moving forward in their usual swirling pattern that covered every blade of grass. Flanking us were the Nosferatu who were simply there to make sure we weren’t flanked and if necessary to act as shock troops should things end up going hand to hand.

It took an half an hour, but we finally reached the spot where the attack was to begin. Although we’d practiced the manoeuvres several times there was still a little confusion getting everyone into the right place, however the time set for the departure had allowed for this. We could now hear the sounds of the Sidhe encampment, a lot of shouting and the occasional scream as they took out their sadistic nature on anything weaker than they were. Our passive scans also told us of small parcels of despondent and abused humanity amongst them, kept by them for sport and food and my mind froze in furious anger as I realised that some of them at least were children.

‘Hold John!’ came Thea’s command. ‘We’ll try to save them after the main mission is a success, but for now obey orders and hold position!’ ‘Yes Mage Thea, ‘ I grated out.

Finally the appointed minute arrived and the Seers, safe within our original encampments, used their powers to lay a screen down that was impervious to teleportation or outward telepathy and in the Sidhe camp all hell broke loose. At this point several RPG’s were launched at some of the more fixed buildings the Sidhe were using, destroying them completely and sending several hundred razor sharp iron splinters into the surrounding Sidhe who were caught unaware by the attack.

“Loegrians lead the way!” ordered Thea in Loegrian followed up by a red flare telling the rest of the troops to follow the plan as our special forces opened up with lead jacketed steel tipped ammo on anything that moved in the encampment.

Surprise initially was complete. The Sidhe were caught totally unawares, and hundreds went down on all sides of the camp as our special ammo punched straight through their armour (those who were wearing any) and disintegrated many on the spot. To give them their due, the Sidhe did not remain in shock for long, though it was apparent that they hadn’t a clue what they were up against, nor how to cope with the deadly nature of our weaponry.

The Loegrians were wearing their powered armour and using their main weapons on plasma only. I’d supplied them with several activated Null slivers for their rail gun accompaniment, though these had to be kept apart from each other or the fields would cancel each other out making them useless. Still the plasma bursts along with their invisibility making nano-camo were proving to be an almost insurmountable defence for them as the Sidhe were thrown back in confusion from the tip of our attacking spear.

I, along with the other Mages in our group, was using my rifle on single shot taking down any stray Sidhe with a null bullet as we advanced towards the centre of the encampment where we knew the leadership was assembled and where they were swiftly organising their defences.