Chapter 92

Morgana was pleased with the results of our little venture down to see Verenestra, though more than a little surprised at Verenestra’s solution.

“I guess it’s a damned sight more brutal and gratifying than a show trial and execution,” she mused.

“William reckons it will take generations to recoup his losses over it, by which time, hopefully, things will have changed,” Brianna replied.

“One way or another, yes,” chuckled Morgana.

“Any more issues, my Mage?” I asked.

“A few attempts to agitate, but nothing else. Things are tense out there, but the elders we’ve spoken to appreciate us keeping out of sight,” she replied.

“Nothing from Oonagh’s forces?” Róisín asked.

“No. I’m pretty sure they will have to act though; doing nothing isn’t really an option for them,” Morgana admitted.

“100,000 Daoine Sidhe would be enough to ruin anyone’s day,” I chuckled.

“You forget, they are highly risk averse unless cornered. That plus Verenestra wisely placed teleport blockers in enough numbers to seal off Kedyrn. So I expect they’ll try to invade by sea, with ordinary Sidhe doing the dirty work,” Morgana replied.

“Whilst the Daoine Sidhe claim the glory, or apportion the blame,” Brianna added.

“As it is, we have the Seers looking. Also Verenestra has spotters out for their ships and we have reserves ready in case we’re called upon,” Morgana stated.

At this point we were approached by Tu’tar who proceeded to tell Róisín and me off for leaving without him. He went on to the point where we both promised to take him wherever we went, simply to shut him up. It’s not like as Mages we have an awful lot to fear, particularly from our friends William and Verenestra, but apparently duty is duty to Tu’tar.

“Just be thankful I persuaded him that our bedroom was out of bounds,” Róisín giggled as we finally escaped his tirade.

“Glad you did, because I was getting nowhere,” I chuckled.

“Abi, Brianna and Imelda were having none of it either,” Róisín added with a grin.

“Four women?” I chuckled. “He didn’t stand a chance.”

“Soon be five again,” Róisín added.

“Five?” I asked looking a little bewildered.

“Jukar, you ninny,” Róisín giggled.

“Oh, come on!” I whined.

“That girl sees you as her knight in shining armour. Plus I like her. She keeps you grounded,” Róisín added with a grin.

“Yes, dear,” I replied through gritted teeth.

“Don’t fight it, John. You’ll lose and you’re an easier pushover than Tu’tar,” she finished with a laugh before joining Abi at the campfire.

I wandered back to Morgana, my mental world as ever in a little turmoil over the machinations of my extended family. I was pretty sure they did it deliberately, either that or I simply had a mental gap in my awareness of what was actually going on around me.

“It’s a mental gap,” Morgana chuckled unsympathetically after she pulled me on my mood. “You simply don’t notice things going on around you on a personal level. Doubt you’ll change either, plus it’s part of your charm.”

“So I’m beginning to realise,” I groused.

“John, Róisín has turned down nearly thirty offers to join your extended partnership. She’s looking out for your and the group’s interests very well indeed. If someone actually gets through as a name put in front of you, then they’re very special indeed,” Morgana explained to what must have been an utterly amazed expression on my face.

“Seriously?” I finally asked.

“Seriously,” she chuckled.

“I had no idea,” I replied, a little thunderstruck.

“I know. Makes you an amusing and entertaining study for me,” she replied with a grin.

“Mage Morgana?” Seer Adsila intervened.

“Yes, Adsila?”

“We’ve detected a massive Sidhe force that has ported into what we’d consider the Calais area. It rather looks like they intend to attempt to cross,” Adsila announced.

“Is Verenestra aware?”

“She’s still incommunicado, though we’ve managed to contact Talshish and he’s passing on the message,” Adsila replied.

“Bring our allies up to speed and increase their standby level,” Morgana said thoughtfully.

“Yes, Mage Morgana,” Adsila replied.

“Think we’ll be needed my Mage?” I asked.

“I suspect so, John,” Morgana replied philosophically. “Verenestra cannot afford to leave the enemy force she’s engaging in her rear, so will need to reduce it, that means we hold up the invasion until she can bring her forces to bear,” she added.

“If they’re to be stopped, it will have to be before they can get ashore from any ships they use. I rather doubt they’ll try flying in,” I chuckled.

“You’re presuming they simply won’t raise the land under the channel and walk across, or just simply walk,” Morgana replied with a wry smile.

“I guess Moses had nothing on these guys,” I chuckled.

“He was a very powerful shaman, but not up to Mage standards, I’m told,” Morgana replied.

“Not a Theurgist?” I asked.

“Early shaman’s had elements of both. The real separation came after the main religions of today developed,” Morgana replied.

“And we don’t dare ask why,” I chuckled.

“Not a chance in hell,” Morgana replied with a grin. “I might ask Jude though, but I may not be able to tell you what he said either.”

“They’re assembling in the Pas de Calais region, Mage Morgana.” Adsila warned. “I suspect they’ll be in a hurry as Verenestra is moving her forces in strength against the hold-outs.”

“Let’s move, call in the reserves on my position, Adsila, please,” Morgana ordered.

We made a secure portal transfer to what on our Earth would have been considered Dover and proceeded to assemble a lot of heavy weaponry. Other portals were opening and our allies and allied forces were coming through as well, including the Æsir, Tuathans and several Loegrians as well as a good few Earth special forces and accompanying Mages. There was even a small company of artillery, courtesy of the United States Marines as well as a host of Drones and their operators.

“We need eyes up quickly,” Morgana ordered the drone crews. “They’ll start blocking our other vision channels as soon as they realise we have them under observation.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the officer saluted. A series of orders went out and the drones launched.

“We have them,” the officer announced after a very tense half hour, as our Mages and Seers battled against a host of Sidhe trying to make themselves invisible to us.

“Keep your distance, but let me know when they move and give me an idea of where they’re heading,” Morgana replied as more of our forces poured through, including a small cohort of Veda toting some very specialised energy weapons.

“They’re moving ... holy shit!” one of the drone operators announced.

The Sidhe were indeed moving. They were turning the sea under their feet to ice and moving at, what had to be to them a fast jog, which was eating up the distance easily and not tiring them out.

“Launch the nulled Hellfire’s, let’s see if we can break up the ice and make them pause,” Morgana requested.

“Yes, Ma’am,” the officer replied and gave out a series of commands.

The area the Sidhe were marching on exploded in flames with breaking ice tearing many of them apart, but not slowing the advance down to any measurable degree. What they did do was raise the broken ice up to swirl around their heads forming a physical barrier against further missile attacks.

“Crafty buggers,” I murmured.

“Yes. Clearly some of their leaders have been doing some research,” Morgana agreed.

“Yes. They may not understand how we do what we do, but that hasn’t stopped them looking for counter-measures,” Róisín noted.

“They’ll hit the beaches in about twenty minutes at their current rate of travel,” Morgana calculated. “We need to reduce their numbers somewhat or they’ll roll right over the top of us.”

“We can change our angles and direction of attack,” Arch advised. “But there’s no way we’ll make a big dent in their numbers until they get within range of our hand weapons.”

“Tell our artillery to hit them when they reach 15 km,” Morgana ordered.

“Yes, Ma’am,” the officer replied with a salute.

“Mages! Convulse the water under the ice, attack it in as many ways as you can, keep them busy! Journeymen, protect the Mages!” she then ordered.

All the Mages under our command went hell for leather at the Sidhe construct, seeking to destroy or undermine it. In this we were aided by the Loegrians and the Veda as their weapon systems could reach out to the extreme range at which we were operating. I could sense the Loegrians in particular going after any Sidhe they could spot who looked or dressed as one of their leadership, easily spotted by the fancy adorned armour they wore.

The Veda appeared to be forming a gravity lens to use the power of the sun to melt the ice causing the Sidhe to use more and more power to keep their platform formed and advancing in front of them.

As the construct reached 15km our artillery opened up using nulled shells, though many actually hit the airborne ice barrier rather than the construct itself, still some got through and added to the carnage.

At this point the Sidhe counter-attacked with massive chunks of ice being lobbed at our positions and we journeymen had to switch to a defensive shield to keep the worst of it from falling on our positions.

Our Seer group then opened up a large portal near the ice construct and I watched amazed as three A10 thunderbolts shot through and opened up with their 30mm GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannons, then slipping back through another portal before the Sidhe could react.

“Nicely done.” I murmured to Abi.

“Not going to be enough, I reckon at least 80,000 will reach the beachhead,” she murmured in return.

“Only if we let them,” I replied. “They haven’t got within range of the bulk of our weapons yet.”

“I suspect these are elite troops. I don’t think they’ll simply give up despite what has to be appalling losses,” Róisín added as we watched and waited.

“Agreed,” I sighed. “Plus I doubt they’re simply going to roll up in a straight line for us to mow down.”

“Which is why my sisters are here,” Abi added.

“Journeymen, keep that shield up!” Morgana commanded. “They’re trying to come around the edges!”

Again we concentrated on what we were supposed to be doing as the Sidhe drove inexorably towards the shore. Away from the clifftops and shielded from attack or detection, stood the bulk of our forces, armed units from all our allies save Verenestra’s Sidhe. Years of negotiation had brought this to pass, as the civilised Earth’s had been gradually cajoled into supporting a war against Queen Oonagh’s forces. The tipping point had come when the Sidhe and Nephilim had invaded several worlds, forcing many of the governments and rulers to face the reality of what would happen if the Sidhe came at them one at a time, particularly with the infiltration the Sidhe had already done via their spiritual parasites.

Hence we had Æsir, Tuathans of Murias, a cohort of Rutasi, several sanctums of free Azurans, Tiamati healers, Mazdani freefighters, Craebh Ruadh freelancers, Olorun and Phaetoni mercenaries as well as Veda and a few Maraú-Uxuí. From Earth and our aligned worlds we had Nosferatu, lycanthropes, Gorgons, as well as special forces and companies from various nations as well as, as many Mages as we’d been able to gather from the Council areas to cover the shielding and to act as healers if necessary.