A Secret Man of Blood

Chapter Thirteen

Darting under a flailing limb, Squad smashes his sword through a necri's cheekbone, scattering teeth and bits of bone everywhere. There are thousands of undead, and the group can barely hold them off. He turns to Indigo.

"Indi, where's that barrier?"

"Coming up," Indigo says, blasting several necri with one hand while working another spell with the other.

Anya sends a spell flying beyond Sig, crashing into a necri which was about to pounce. "Careful!" the Dwarf tells her. "It went right over my head!"

"Like every clever joke I've ever told," Anya smiles. "Maybe we should try and kill as few of these people as possible," she adds. "Afterall, they're as much victims as we are."

"It doesn't feel like it!" Sig adds, while being throttled by five 'victims.' His axe sweeps through two of their legs, then he spins and cleaves another's skull in two. "Besides, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs."

Mindful of the young human girl and her Scrovengi guardian, Squad decides to shut down Sig's sense of humour until they can get used to him. "Yes, thank you, Sig—"

Sig offers up another helpful phrase. "You can't catch a frisbee without hanging out with a child or a douchebag."

A translucent bubble of energy shoots out of Indigo's hand and pushes back the attacking necri, forming a safe area about fifteen feet long and with the same width. It flashes red in areas where the necri beat against it, trying to get in, but Anya and Squad add their powers to the barrier, bolstering it. All three walk with their hands raised, trying to reach the distant exit of the tunnel and the barrier moves with them.

Squad notices the large Scrovengi is trying to stay as far away from them as possible; noticing the spectre's attention, the Scrovengi explains.

"I have a magic-dampening amulet. I don't know if it'll recognise friendly magic from enemy power, so I'm trying to keep my distance. So far it seems to be holding back on stopping your magic, so perhaps it possesses some kind of sentience."

With so many undead smashing themselves against the barrier, Squad struggles to introduce his team and maintain the magic. "I'm Squad Fearless and I work for the Samarian government. This is Agent Anya Fitzwallis of the DIA and her brother Indigo Fitzwallis, a specialist in experimental magic. And, for our sins, this is Sig Hammerhead."

Sig smiles at the two newcomers. "Don't listen to him. I'm the leader here: I brought Squad along to wipe my arse." He shakes Mazer's hand. "Like most reasonable people, I hate all Scrovengi – except the ones I've met, who seem fine."

Lu turns to Squad, talking about Sig. "He hasn't changed! I've never met him before, but I know he hasn't changed."

To his credit, Sig nods along. "My school report card was only one sentence long. It just told my mum: 'Sig's struggling with his academic workload, so could you do us a favour and make sure he can carry heavy stuff?'"

"I'm Mazer," the Scrovengi says. "And this is Lu."

The strongest mage among them, Indigo is visibly struggling to maintain the barrier. They're pushing through a solid mass of undead, striking on all sides of the protective bubble and weakening it every second; there are hundreds of metres to go and small tunnels leading off in different directions, presumably maintenance hatches or something similar.

Realising they're not going to make it, Squad eyes these small tunnels. "I can make a run for it; as soon as I step out, it'll draw most of them off and you can get these two to the designated location."

"You'll never make it through all this!" Anya protests. "And even if you did make it out, the surface is packed with them. We need to stick together."