Page 83 of Red Demon
Mahakal held up a hand. “Quiet comms only from here. Command, fill in my squad,” he whispered into his own headset. A low hum filled my ears, then static as the surrounding soldiers nodded, listening. They could hear instructions I couldn’t. Frustration bubbled up, and I tried to speak. “Sir, my comm—”
Mahakal again motioned for silence.
The ground leveled and rose under the procession of our boots, with my headset only buzzing in my ear. We reached the ridge, the wide trees leaving ample places to hide and wait. The wind brushed cold at the summit of the hill, whistling through the surrounding branches.
I saw a familiar outline, a gait I could recognize anywhere. Asher dropped to a crouch beside an oak, scanning the ridgeline with his crossbow. Looking up to me, I thought I imagined his smile through that helmet.
With a relieved breath, I saluted mind and heart, then took a step toward him, until Mahakal grabbed my elbow to stay.
I leaned into him. “Orders, sir? My comms are—” His gloved hand clamped over my mouth before I could finish.
“Quiet,” Mahakal said, his voice low and urgent. He didn’t move away, even when he removed his hand from my mouth.
Confusion clawed at me; Fear.
Mahakal’s black eyes locked onto mine in the pale moonlight. “Stay still,” he whispered. Then, a cold glint of metal pressed against my throat. Istaran, humming blue only where it touched the skin of my throat.
He nodded to a member of his squad, who dropped to his bag, retrieving rope. The soldier motioned for my hands as I jerked them away.
Istaran pressed against my exhale. “You don’t need to be afraid, Jesse,” he whispered. “Just ... act afraid.”
The soldier pointed to a tree, a small one in the underbrush I could have put my arms around. Mahakal’s grip tightened further, Istaran’s point digging into my skin as he prodded me toward it. The adrenaline from the attack, the confusion of his threat, and the remnants of my illness, it all muddied my head.
“You’re bait, Jesse,” he said through his teeth. As the soldier secured me, he put his finger to his comm, his eyes roving the valleys before he turned back to whisper in my ear. “Time to scream. Howl at the moon, wild dog. Convince the mutt.”
Panic gnawed at me, a cold serpent coiling my ribs. Mahakal’s hand clamped around my neck, muffling the questions hammering in my head. Did he think it was that simple? Faruhar would scamper up from low ground at the sound of my voice? Voids, she probably didn’t even remember who I was.
When I laughed at the absurdity of it all, Mahakal drew blood on my neck. I jerked my head back into the bark, feeling terror for the first time. I remembered the look in Havoc’s eye before he drew, a look so much like Mahakal’s right now.
“This is as real as you need it to be, even if I have to gut you with your elder’s sword,” Mahakal growled. “Scream like the traitor you are!”
My scream burned like shame up my throat, a raw, desperate plea that echoed through the dark trees. As my voice faded, the forest echoed silent, too silent: not an owl or chirping insect. Then, surrounding the hill as far as I could see, blue light webbed on the low ground between hills, clusters of Oria like fallen stars on the forest floor. I took in a sharp intake of breath, unsure what that meant.
“That’s impossible. Scan with other frequencies then,” Mahakal hissed into his comm, his voice raw with anger.
“Ghosts don’t have magic,” Huan said to his comm. Mahakal’s black eyes glittered as he gave a signal for Huan to shut up, gesturing to me.
All other soldiers listened to their comms, the only sound in the forest the rustling of the soldiers in their gear. Ash turned back to me, tense, but I could not make out his face through the helmet.
Mahakal growled, a sound deep in his chest. “Then hold your position. Full aerial assault. Target each one,” he whispered into his comm.
Static crackled in my ear again. Mahakal’s gaze darted around the perimeter, the soldiers frozen in various states of apprehension. The blue glow pulsed again, seeming to mock their confusion. Resolve hardened Mahakal’s face.
A distant rumble echoed through the trees before the night sky erupted. Orange streaks of light tore through the darkness, slamming into the forest floor with an explosion. The ground trembled beneath me, and ripples of warm shockwaves rustled my hair. Mahakal watched the valley with grim satisfaction as his surrounding soldiers roved their eyes in all directions. Two soldiers guarding the flank were the first to lift their visors, looking up.
Two arrows fell from above in less than a second, piercing through eyes to skulls as the explosions crashed around us. The other soldiers began pulling off their chest armor and helmets, swatting at their skin.
Ash removed his helmet too. No. Why? What was happening?
Over the sounds and lights of the explosions, she dropped gracefully from the trees. The Red Demon’s swords sliced through eyes and between gaps in Chaeten leather: two kidneys sliced in one brutal blow, a head pierced, red hair flying. My breath hitched in my throat. Three, then six more soldiers down as the last of the mycelial lights winked out. Mahakal was still on his comm, eyes on the rumbling valley.
“It’s her!”
“Ash!” I cried.
Mahakal turned smirking, then froze as he saw the dead.
Faruhar ducked, slicing as the crossbolts flew. She launched off bent shoulders to pivot off a branch and keep killing with both swords. I strained at the ropes, my voice lost in the fray.
