Page 60 of Bear Protector
With a quick, soft nudge of his snout against her cheek, Xander left the turret, and crossed the battlement to meet his soldiers outside the fortress. There was still lots of fight in him, and that was fortunate. The real battle was just beginning.
22
Xander
Xander and his Kodiak bear soldier companions had only made two short stops on their almost hundred-mile swim to meet Liam and the rest of his troops in the west. The falling snow intensified as they traveled, and by the time they made it shore at the meeting spot eleven hours later, it was coming down harder, blown around by strong gusts of wind. Thankfully, in Kodiak bear form, they thrived on this weather. There were even a few hours left to rest before the last few destroyers were expected to swim up on shore and try to breach the outer walls of the western villages.
Liam and Reena were still busy working with the Nauru and the soldiers. They had made much progress. They were also relieved to learn that it was no longer an onslaught of hundreds of creatures on their way here.
Just after Xander woke up, around four o’clock in the afternoon, their soldiers in the water gave the alarm.
Liam rushed to his side. “You’re not planning to sleep through this battle, are you?”
“Are the men ready?” Xander asked, ignoring his friend’s dig.
“Yes. The traps have been set, and the Nauru coven has completed spells for all the expected land access points forty miles in each direction. Reena is a pretty innovative one. She even had the Nauru infuse the blue indigo in their spells for the shipping channels. You know how they use those barbed wire nets discourage the destroyers? They hate getting their legs or faces caught in those, and now, when they try to rip through them, it will be night-night for them.”
“Excellent. So where are the Nauru now? And Reena?”
“Safely hunkered down with some of the villagers inside the walls.”
“And the trainees who have not yet been turned?”
“Also inside the walls, but ready to fight if needed. By the way, there are at least two dozen trainees who still want to go through with the transformation.”
“Two dozen out of over a hundred is a fair number…and it will finally be their choice to make when the Council is re-established…as long as the witches volunteering to perform the spells don’t have to give their lives for it.”
Liam nodded. “Fair enough. It’s been a long time coming, old friend.”
“It has,” Xander agreed.
“So, are you hungry? We can spare maybe a half hour before they get to shore.”
Xander stood to full height, stretching his arms up. “Are you sure there is time?”
Suddenly, one of the Kodiak bear shifters in the water climbed up onto a rock about one hundred feet from shore. He roared out their signal.
“Hold that thought,” Liam added.
Xander threw off the towel that wrapped around his waist, and lowered to the ground to take on his Kodiak bear form. He returned to his hind legs just in time to see a few destroyers leap from the water and dive back in, still heading to shore almost directly in line with four large enchanted traps already waiting for the creatures. Reena’s concoction was sure to stun the beasts long enough to give his shifters time to kill them with the long spears placed near each trap.
“Your troops are all prepared. Shift, Liam. Now!” Xander ordered in a roar that all shifters understood. “Be ready if any of them deviate around the traps or aren’t affected by the wild indigo.”
“Yes, sir,” Liam said calmly, transforming to his bear almost as fast as his clothes came off.
Dozens of their shifter soldiers skulked out to the water’s edge, ready to meet the handful of foes. Some were slightly disappointed there weren’t enough of them to fight, but too few destroyers, well that was nowhere near as bad or bloody as too many.
“Do not take them on in the water,” Xander commanded. “We need to test these new traps and the spells.”
The first creature to step into a trap did not know what hit it. More than twelve spiked spears sprang upright at high speeds from several different directions, impaling the beast’s heart and several other major organs. It was killed instantly. Blood splattered out from everywhere. Xander smelled it in the air. His soldiers would be in overdrive now, instincts rearing to strike.
Two more destroyers charged onto shore, stepping around the first one that died. Xander gave a primal roar and pounced onto the back of the one closer to him. He snapped his jaw shut along the destroyer’s spine, and put all his weight on his hind legs, making the monster lose its balance. From the corner of his eye, Xander noticed that Liam had shifted back to human form, grabbed a longsword that was buried close to the trap, and lopped off half of the destroyer’s massive head in one clean, fluid movement.
“Looks like the wild indigo spells are working,” Liam announced, stepping to the other side of the beast to finish the job. He lived for swordplay. “Last year it would have taken me four good swings to kill one this size. Either that, or the blacksmith who gave my swords a damn good sharpening this year. Did I mention I’ve been itching to do that since last winter?”
“Focus,” Xander barked, releasing the dead destroyer to help the four shifters working on the third destroyer. “While you’re strutting around on two legs, can you get your hands on some of the wild indigo powder Reena left? We should see how it works when we apply it directly on the skin for the rest of those nasty buggers when they come on shore.”
“Yes. Good idea.” Liam stepped over to his clothes and retrieved a flat, covered metal jar. Opening the lid, he picked up a pinch of the powder and smeared it on the destroyer’s back. A split second later, it dropped to the ground with a thump. “Looks pretty effective to me. Step aside, soldiers,” he ordered, and stabbed the sleeping creature.
