Fire and the Blood of Innocents

Fire and the Blood of Innocents-Part 12

"Someone out here with a rifle."

Walt nodded, his face grim. "But who?"

I scanned the low hills around us, more concerned for now about how many hostiles were out here with rifles were and where they were.

Our truck was alone now. Did the others make it back across the safe line, heading back to the castle or were they wrecked, with Rocheforte's men torn apart by the manikula?

Another bear-beast shrugged off a leaf-covered tarp and sprinted toward us, threatening to bowl the truck over with one massive arm.

Walt swerved, further from the safe line. The bear-beast thundered past, fast as a horse for a few seconds, but only in a straight line and with little endurance.

"They're herding us." Was that planned or were there so many of the massive beasts that it just seemed that way?

Manikula seemed to be everywhere, swarming through the low hills. Unlike the bear-beasts, rifles could kill manikula, so they darted from cover to cover, rarely giving the men in the back of the truck clear shots.

Rocheforte's voice came over the radio again, ordering trucks back to the castle. I wondered if anyone else was still out here to answer him.

Walt was still trying to work his way back to the safe zone. That should have been easy. We were less than a mile from it, two minutes by truck even in these hills.

"Truck engines," Walt said.

I heard the sound faintly over our engine. "One truck."

The sound got closer, then abruptly stopped. Walt swung toward the sound. We crested a hill and saw a truck a few hundred yards from us, with manikula swarming over it. A bullet shattered the driver's side window, spraying us with glass. Walt slumped against the steering wheel. The truck jerked forward, with Walt's foot suddenly heavy on the accelerator.

I grabbed the wheel and tried to steer, tried to dodge a bear beast that threw aside a camouflage tarp and charged. One swipe of its huge arms tore the driver's side door off and a second knocked the truck on its side, then its top, rolling it down the hill like a child's toy.

I flew from the truck, landed hard, staggered to my feet and ran, while manikula swarmed the truck, tearing apart my companions, leaving me alone, on foot, at least a mile from the safe zone, with a sea of manikula between me and safety. I still had my revolver and used it, desperately dodging a closing net of manikula and giant 'bears', using up my ammunition. Two bullets left now, one for me. Wits. If I had any I wouldn't be here.

#

At first. I thought the woman was a manikula. She was dirty, with tangled black hair, dressed in remnants of a gown its owner might have worn to a dance. She carried a rifle. Two knives made of the same black glass as the castle hung from her belt. She came at me with a wave of manikula. then said something guttural. The manikula stopped as if on command. She said in English, "Do you really want to die for Rocheforte?"

I paused, the revolver poised. Two bullets left. "I don't have a choice."

"Maybe you do," the woman said. "Let us talk."

I remained ready to shoot, then turn the revolver on myself. The plains were quiet now, with no gunshots or truck noise.

"You hate Rocheforte," the woman said. "I could see it in the way you stood."

"I don't hate him enough to let manikula loose on our world."

"I showed them how to get there," the woman said. "You let Rocheforte come here, kill my parents, drive me from my home. I gave you back death."

Her English sounded rusty, as though she hadn't used it in a long time, but her voice sounded younger than she looked.

"Who are you?"

She drew herself up, looking both regal and ridiculous in her rags. "I'm Adelita, daughter of Duke James the Second," she said. "The real Duke. The castle belongs to me."

"You escaped and the manikula didn't kill you."

"They will kill me after I help them kill Rocheforte." She said that matter-of-factly, accepting it.

"They'll kill me then too, and invade my world. Rocheforte isn't worth it."

Her face turned grim, with a hint of madness. "He tortured my family. Days. Weeks. But I will kill him, his men, and the people he turned against us. Then I'll have no reason to live. You hate him too, I can see it. Help me."

"What do you need me for?" I asked.

"Manikula can't go into the castle, but I have to," she said. "You could help me."

Rocheforte held the castle, but the family he overthrew took secrets to their shallow graves. Among those secrets, a hidden passage and a secret chamber that controlled the castle. The woman told me that much, but wouldn't tell me what she planned to do when she got to the chamber, beyond killing Rocheforte.

She did give me her word that she would try to get me home, but said nothing about how she planned to do that.