Chapter 38
THIRTY-EIGHT
Sloan
The air so high was freezing, though Sloan expected it would feel a lot worse if she were still one hundred percent human. Cherub held her under her armpits as the two took the lead of the convoy and sailed through the dark air.
The female gargoyle was stronger than she looked. She had to be to be able to support her own weight, plus Sloan’s and the heavy lance she carried on her back in a sling between her wings.
Sloan blinked at the heavy gusts of air that wreaked havoc on her hair. For the second time she reached down by her side to make sure her mage sword was still in its sheath. The cold steel of her weapon touched her fingers.
“There!” Cherub had to shout to be heard. “Eleven o’clock!”
Sloan looked down to see the long trail of lights. To the left of the army was the mage engine. Dark smoke billowed from its smokestack as it travelled at the same pace as the army, which was a black snake of soldiers, some carrying torches, most just jogging along.
Leah had pushed them like Sloan knew she would. The tyrant queen was in a hurry to reach Azra and defeat her enemies. The vampire soldiers from New Hope would be tired when they were finally asked to fight. Sloan carried no pity in her heart for them, only wrath.
To the right of the army and to Sloan’s left was what she was looking for: a long line of wagons being pulled by teams of horses trotting along.
Sloan ran the plan over and over in her mind.
She, along with the members of her vampire squad and the two shifters, would be dropped onto soldiers driving the wagons.
They would kill them quickly, unhitch the horses, and light the wagons on fire.
In the interim, Cherub would lead the hundred or so gargoyles on two to three passes against the bulk of the army, then come and pick them up. If all went as planned, they would be in and out in under ten minutes, leaving bodies broken and bloodied in their wake.
Sloan wished she could see the sky behind her. What a sight it must have been to see a hundred gargoyles flying in sync. Thoughts of this were pushed out of her mind, though, as Cherub readied her for her drop.
“We’re going to have to go in fast!” Cherub shouted above the rush of her wings.
“Do it!” Sloan shouted back. “Aim for the first wagon. I’m ready!”
Time sped up as Cherub took a dive. Everything grew in size as the wind rushed past Sloan at an exhilarating pace. Sloan couldn’t stop blinking past the wind, even the air was hard to breathe as vampire and gargoyle plummeted from the sky like a fallen angel.
When Cherub finally released Sloan, Sloan felt like a bomb being dropped from the heavens.
The vampire soldier driving the first team of horses in the lead wagon didn’t even stand a chance.
Sloan inverted her self in the air so she would land boots-first. She slammed into the driver, crushing his skull on impact.
Arching pain lanced up Sloan’s legs, but pain could be put in a mental box until her body healed itself. Sloan unsheathed her weapon and drove it into the heart of the broken vampire just to be sure.
In one movement, she flipped on the mage blade to ensure it would sear through any armor he might be wearing. The next moment, she unhitched the wagon from the straps holding prisoner the two confused horses.
Sloan withdrew her sword and placed the mage-heated blade against the wagon’s wood frame. The board beneath her sword turned a dull red first, then sparked and caught fire.
As she jumped off the first wagon and moved to the next, she knew they had already been found out.
Screams permeated the air as the marching army came to a standstill amidst the sound of rushing wings.
More than anything Sloan wanted to take a moment to look to her right and witness the gargoyles descending upon the New Hope army like Valkyries incarnate.
She couldn’t. Speed was their ally. Surprise would only send the New Hope army reeling for so long.
Instead of pausing to witness their plan in progress, Sloan ran to the next wagon in line. The driver of this transport was already standing up in his seat, hand resting on the butt of his rifle. He made eye contact with Sloan at the same time she hurled her mage-heated sword through the air.
Before the guard could tell he was already dead, the blade pierced the area over his chest. While he was still falling, Sloan sprinted up the wagon and pulled the blade from his torso. She repeated the act of unhitching the panicked horses before setting the wagon on fire.
Pure chaos reigned over the night. Sloan couldn’t help taking a moment to view the battlefield. New Hope vampire soldiers weary from travel were panicked as they ran around the open area, dodging gargoyles who swooped down from the sky spearing soldiers on the tips of their deadly lances.
The wagons that were a perfect line a moment before began to move in different directions as their drivers tried to reign in frightened horses. The main bulk of the army, it seemed, was not worried about the burning wagons yet, still too busy trying to figure out what was happening.
To Sloan’s approval, a dozen other wagons were already burning farther down the convoy. Kade and his sister, as well as Pia and Babs, were doing their work quickly.
You gotta move, you gotta move, Sloan reminded herself. Cherub will be here any minute to pick you up.
Sloan jumped off the wagon she had already lit on fire and made her way to the next in line. This wagon’s horses were rearing back, large eyes showing how scared they were of the unfolding events.
Dodging the hooves that sought to strike her, Sloan jumped on board the wagon next to a frightened soldier who couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. His mouth dropped open.
“Heads-up.” Sloan slammed her forehead into his nose, sending a shower of blood over his face. The boy fell backwards off the wagon.
In two movements, Sloan unhitched the horses and lit the wagon aflame. She jumped down on top of the dazed soldier.
“Listen, kid, this is your lucky day.” Sloan pressed her mage blade close to his throat. “I’m not going to kill you.”
“You … you aren’t?”
“Nope. I need you to send a message back to Leah Eckert. Do you think you can do that for me?”
The boy swallowed hard and nodded.
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Ye-yes,” the boy stuttered. “I-I’ll send your message.”
“Good. Tell Leah that Charlotte Sloan is coming for her. Tell her that she will never be safe. Tell her that the days of her closing her eyes without fear are over and that every step toward Azra is a step closer to her death. Tell her I’m coming for her.”
Sloan was starting to feel sorry for the terrified young soldier. She flicked off her mage sword and sheathed it in her belt.
“You … you’re … Captain Charlotte Sloan?” the soldier croaked. “You’re supposed to be seven feet tall with fangs as long as swords; more monster than human.”
“I don’t know what propaganda you’ve been fed kid, but don’t believe everything you’ve heard.”
BAM! BAM!
Shots were being fired into the air now as the soldiers finally realized they were being attacked by a flying enemy.
Sloan wrestled her view from the soldier still on the ground and looked up. A large, black form swooped down to pick her up. Cherub grabbed her just below the armpits and again lifted her into the sky. A second later, they began the trip back to Azra.
“Casualties?” Sloan shouted to be heard over the cold wind once again.
“Not one!” Cherub shouted back. “I estimate we killed a few hundred!”
Sloan nodded, thinking on Cherub’s words. More importantly, they had sent a message: Kill one of ours, and hundreds of your own will die. Leah wanted a war? Well, now she had one.