Chapter Forty-Three
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JACQUIN DIDN’T FEEL himself falling from the Void. He only knew he’d been released when he suddenly landed in water. The impact was enough to knock him out for a few seconds. Righting himself, he kicked his legs until his head surfaced.
“I’m back on Earth again,” he said, fuzzily recalling Fate imparting knowledge to him while he’d still been mostly in stasis.
He could already tell technology had evolved significantly since the Knights of Order had waged and won their last war.
It was raining, but flashes of lightning lit up a breathtaking skyline.
Buildings soared high into the air in the distance.
Only a few lights lit up some windows, making it seem as if the city was almost empty.
Treading water, Jacquin saw a small island off to his left.
His head tilted back to view a huge green statue that loomed over him.
Female, she was wearing a robe and clutched a tablet in one hand.
Her other hand was lifted high into the air, holding a torch that was styled to look like it was flaming.
“That must be a goddess they worship,” he figured. Fate had imbued him with a lot of information, but he would have to learn about history to piece everything together.
The warrior needed to rest after the ordeal of falling from the Void. It sapped the knights of their energy even when they were unconscious. There was no way he would be able to swim all the way to the mainland. He angled towards the tiny island and swam over to it instead.
Several humans were clustered beneath a tarp that was shielding them from the rain. They didn’t see the huge, muscular naked man hauling himself onto the dock below.
“I’m telling you, that gold comet landed just over there!” one of the men exclaimed, pointing to where Jacquin had surfaced.
“At least it wasn’t one of those ominous red ones,” a female said with a shiver of dread. “There were so many of them that I thought Manhattan was going to be destroyed!”
“You’ve heard what the Mad Prophet said on the ham radio,” a second man said. “That thing wasn’t a comet or a meteor. It was an alien and it’s come here to rule our planet.”
Jacquin hurried away from the trio, searching for something to wear. He didn’t feel the cold as badly as humans, but it wasn’t pleasant being pelted by the rain.
Tents had been erected on the grassy areas. People were asleep inside them, ignoring the storm. Others were awake and were huddled inside, talking in hushed voices about the latest comet.
“I’m not the only knight here,” Jacquin said in relief. It was concerning that so many Soldiers of Chaos had already arrived. He and his comrades were already heavily outnumbered.
Finding an empty tent, Jacquin cautiously opened it and peered inside.
A bundle of clothing sat on one side. He picked through them and grabbed some sweatpants.
From the faded smells, he figured the tent had been abandoned.
He decided it would do for shelter and crawled inside.
The knight used a t-shirt to dry himself, then pulled the stained black sweatpants on.
“Fits like a glove,” he said with a grimace when the seams strained to contain his bulk.
“A really tight glove,” he complained. They were several inches too short for him and barely covered his butt.
None of the shirts were large enough for him to wear, but he found a hooded gray sweater that he managed to squeeze himself into.
Sending out his senses, Jacquin couldn’t feel either of the knights who’d arrived before him. He already knew they had to be Amaros and Camriel. Their leader and his second in command were always the first warriors to be deployed for battle.
“Come find me soon, boss,” Jacquin said drowsily as he bundled some clothes together to use them as a pillow. He was already assimilating modern terminology into his vocabulary.
He fell into a deep sleep to recover from the harrowing journey he was glad he couldn’t remember.
Barely an hour passed before a noise woke him up.
Jacquin groaned in annoyance as he opened his eyes.
He could hear a high-pitched whining sound and knew it was coming from a vehicle of some sort.
The good news was that he could sense Amaros and Camriel as he left the small tent.
The bad news was that there were two water vessels approaching instead of one.
“Speedboats,” the knight said, delving into his new knowledge.
They’d had boats in Egypt when they’d been here last. They were vastly different from the sleek vessels that were speeding towards the island.
They were coming from two different directions.
His brothers were on the left and the other boat was on the right.
Humans heard the boats as well and left their tents to investigate.
A loud booming noise came from the second boat. Jacquin ducked instinctively as a projectile whizzed past his head.
“They’ve got guns!” a human shouted in warning and everyone scattered.
“Jacquin!” Amaros shouted from his boat, drawing his attention. Take cover, his commander said into his mind.
Jacquin nodded, then raced towards a small building near the base of the gigantic green statue.
He saw a sign that told him it was the Statue of Liberty as he took cover.
More shots came from the second boat and he kept his head down.
The two vessels reached the island at the same time, exchanging rapid gunfire.
Camriel’s blond head popped up and he waved at the warrior to join them.
They gave him cover as Jacquin sprinted closer.
He skidded to a stop when he saw Amaros and Camriel weren’t alone.
“That’s a cambion,” he said in shock, pointing at the tall female who was coolly shooting arrows at their mortal enemies.
“I’m Vic,” she said without looking at him. “Who the fudge are you?”
“My name is Jacquin,” he replied, frowning when Camriel scowled at him.
“We’ll explain later,” Amaros promised, expression tense. “There are five soldiers on that boat.”
“Victoria?” Camriel said when the cambion suddenly stopped firing her weapon. Ignoring him, her gaze was locked on someone who was approaching from the shadows.
“Phul!” Amaros growled in anger. Rahab’s second in command had snuck up on them while they’d been distracted.
Grinning widely, their foe raised his arms to reveal two automatic handguns and opened fire.
Amaros and Camriel ducked behind cover, but Victoria just stood there as if she was mesmerized. Jacquin caught the weapon Amaros tossed to him. “Point and pull the trigger!” his leader ordered.
Jacquin aimed at Phul, but the soldier sprinted forward to grab hold of the cambion. He aimed one of the small guns at her head. The other one was pointed at the knights. “Shoot me and my offspring dies,” he said in a gloating tone.
Camriel roared in impotent rage, confusing Jacquin even more. He had no idea what was going on, or why a Knight of Order would care about the youngling of one of their enemies.
“What are your orders, boss?” Jacquin whispered to Amaros.
Amaros looked torn. Normally, he would strike both the soldier and his offspring down. They all knew cambions were as evil as their sires. They’d eradicated them in the past because they enjoyed murdering humans and inflicting pain on them.
“Victoria?” Amaros called out. “Are you with us?”
“She’s our enemy!” Jacquin hissed.
“She’s my mate!” Camriel roared in response. All hell broke loose when he exploded into action.