Deadly Wands (21 page)

Aidian explained his plan while gesturing to
a huge map. The foul-smelling bully bumped him again, giving Billy
an idea.

Billy pointed his hand wands behind him,
making sure they did not slice the bully. He extended them,
retracted, extended, and retracted sideways as the first groups
yelled out in pain and fell. He now sliced through those between
him and the quads along the tables twenty meters away. Then Billy,
clutching his chest, pointed at the barbarian behind him and yelled
“traitor!” He yelped like a girl losing her virginity and collapsed
on the floor among the other wounded. Anyone who saw his baby face
dismissed him as harmless.

The bewildered mercenary stood alone, fallen
bodies all around him. An athletic quad pop into the air. His shots
flew over Billy into the bully, smashing him across the floor.

"Help the wounded," someone yelled. Billy
slid his hand into the bloody back in front of him and smeared his
cheap overcoat with blood. He heard Aidian argue with what had to
be his shrill domineering wife. Everyone else seemed preoccupied
with the wounded, so Billy limped to position himself.

They all heard a firefight start near the
battlements. A herd of quads ran towards the huge oak door. Billy
ran even faster, slashing at them from behind. Those who turned
towards the cries of pain were the next to die. It shocked Billy
how long it took them to figure out someone was killing them. When
he heard a volley from the quads behind him, he popped up without
even turning around and watched a dozen fireballs explode into the
fools he was cutting down. Billy took advantage of so many quads
with their backs to him, moving unpredictably above them while
fireballing the survivors. The enemy had helpfully concentrated
themselves near the doorway to make avoidance difficult. Those in
front went down in flames, exposing the rest to incredibly hot,
impossibly large balls of fire. The inferno ignited the solid oak
doors, preventing easy escape.

One of the many tiny fireballs shot from
behind Billy struck him hard enough for him to notice. He popped
sideways to put the burning people between him and the remaining
enemy, which also gave him a new angle to blast enemies. One quad
hurt so bad he cried at the top of his lungs like a colicky baby
until Billy moved his stream of fire right into his mouth. Several
quads flew at him, but not in any coordinated way. Billy easily
avoided their short swords, while giving them fatal wounds. Another
dozen ran -- not flew -- closer to blast him, but he evaded their
fire and hurled fireballs at them like lightning bolts. The few who
popped up were nailed in the air, which flung their flaming bodies
towards the cowards in the back of the hall.

With his back to the wall and ceiling, Billy
studied the tactical situation. He killed or injured about half.
Over one hundred still remained, but half of them were backing away
instead of massing to swarm him. They looked more scared than he,
despite the numbers. Mongols spoiled him. This was easier than
target practice.

"Good morning, cousins!" he cheerfully called
out, as smoke from people on fire spread like an English fog. It
took them a surprisingly long time to guess who he was. He assumed
Aidian was a combat veteran who’d think quickly on his feet.
Apparently, not so much.

"You're that bitch's bastard!" a richly
dressed lady shouted.

"Your assassins cut my father down in the
street without warning," Billy shouted. "So I challenge you all to
a duel to the death!"

Aidian's wife and youngest son reacted far
quicker than Aidian. The kid, a few years older than Billy, failed
to weave in time. Billy's blast obliterated him and covered his
mother's face with burning flesh, who screamed in horror until
Billy sliced her head off. It bounced towards Aidian’s feet, who
stared at it in horror.

Aidian’s brothers charged. Billy rose to give
himself enough room to dodge. His cousins, however, had less
success evading his much wider, hotter, and faster blasts. Billy
took out both two-wanders to concentrate on Aidian. They both went
to blades, their swordfight criss-crossing one end of the great
hall.

"Did you know about the assassins in
Frankfurt?" Billy demanded.

"Only if they're the same soldiers I sent to
Budapest." Aidian answered hotly.

"It was you!" Billy backed away and sent an
ax straight to Aidian's groin that struck deep enough to reach his
belly button, something that his mother should have done years
ago.

Something then hit Billy in the low back and
he smelled his own burning flesh. He instantly changed direction to
avoid the next blast and shot a wounded quad on the floor,
engulfing him in fire.

If they all attacked en masse, they may have
won, but more went on defense than offense, as if hiding behind
tables would save them. Those tending the wounded only delayed
death.

Billy swept the Great Hall from his end to
the other, not leaving anyone alive behind him. He poured fire at
the densest clusters of enemies who ironically huddled together for
safety. Most foolishly stayed on the ground, though they could move
several times faster in the air than on the floor. Those who
launched themselves did not attack as a group. He could stay
outside of their lethal range, but they could not stay outside of
his. In a matter of minutes he killed everyone in the Great
Hall.

Next, Billy flew from window to window and
shot at whoever in the castle had their backs to him. The size and
location of the Great Hall rendered most of the castle within
range. Even those farthest away didn't see the blasts coming.

The women and teenagers fought aggressively.
He saw Emily pop down under a quad to slice off a leg, then blast
him as he fell. The scene made Billy rock hard.

He expected a battle, but instead found a
massacre. There could be no peace as long as they lived, so he
torched the royal palace, the barracks, and the sleeping quarters,
burning dozens of people alive.

"Collect their wands before they grow cold,"
he shouted to his family.

Having kicked ass, Billy found the Matriarch
taking names.

"Except for John's wife, who’s probably on
her father’s estate, we got everyone important. You burned several
kids in the palace, who were probably the children of Aidian’s
brothers. Congratulations," she said, keeping her tone neutral,
"you exterminated John's line like he tried to exterminate
yours."

Billy didn’t pretend to feel remorse. "Then
no one should contest Richard for the crown, which may save
thousands of lives. Please send someone to tell the king the good
news and ask him to send me a decent suit of body armor. Then come
to the vault to see if they left us any goodies."

As his family took the valuables off the
dead, as was their right as victors, Billy flew to the northern
face of David's Tower to find the arrow slit gone. Instead he blew
open the door in the bottom of the tower, rather than find the key,
then blasted the hinges off the ancient vault. When Susan arrived,
she screamed in joy at the sight of the jewels.

"John has more money than the treasury," was
the Matriarch's first impression. "Richard is going to need all
this to fix the country."

"No," Billy answered. "I'd rather lend him
whatever he needs. Instead, divide this among everyone who fought
with us today, according to how many enemies they killed. I don’t
need a share.”

This kid just made her family rich. "Sure,
Billy."

“Haul the valuables to safety and find us
more quads so we can ambush other enemies as they come here.”

The Matriarch was not used to being ordered
around, but wasn’t going to bite the hand that fed her. “You remind
me of your father.”

The compliment startled the boy. “That is the
nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“You’re welcome.”

CHAPTER 24

Warriors from both sides flew to Castle
Edinburgh all day. Several hundred enemy supporters arrived, but in
small groups.

Billy blasted a long trench along the edge of
the forest to display the dead bodies. He made sure the earth piled
up on the side away from the forest so that the enemy would land
with their backs to the trees. Where his two-wanders hid. The women
and children pretended to cry over the richly dressed corpses
whenever their scouts signaled fliers coming. Billy turned having
only women and children from a negative to a positive.

Billy reveled in his good fortune: his
enemies not only came to him piecemeal, but landed with their backs
to his ambushers. It was something his father would have
appreciated.

But good luck never lasts long. Billy looked
west to see one hundred quads and two-wanders flying in formation.
But instead of stopping near the corpses, the enemy landed inside
the castle and manned the ramparts. After far too long, the quads
flew over them and the forest, taking their time, before landing a
safe distance from the bodies.

"What happened here, boy?" the eldest man
demanded impatiently of Billy, who wore a guard uniform.

"We didn't have patrols up, so they took us
by surprise. I got knocked out. The few of us who survived prepared
the dead for burial, but wanted to give family members the
opportunity to identify loved ones."

"I sent three teams here, and none came back.
What happened to them?"

Uh oh. "The usurper's supporters ambushed
them from the air, sir. They have left us alone since we’re burying
the dead."

"Come here, boy."

Ah, crap. They know. Billy noticed them
spread out, wands in hand, eyeing the woods. He dared not look at
his three dozen women and teenagers pretending to cry.

"Yes, sir!" Billy answered, walking with an
exaggerated limp the long way around the trench, knowing the old
man wanted him to fly over so they could blast him when he used his
wands to land. Billy ignored the yells as he stretched their line
out. No sooner did he round the trench than four quads hopped over
to take him from behind as others met him head on. Anyone but the
world's best dueler would have been screwed.

Wands unexpectedly appeared in his hands,
followed by unbelievably long swords that Billy used to cut down
those in front of him. He blasted the line of quads because it’s so
much easier to hit them on the ground, then fired on those behind
him, who were taking fire from the two-wanders. Caught in a
crossfire, Billy took out two and the two-wanders killed two.

Now he could focus on the main group, now
exchanging fire with his own quads, and the two-wanders from the
forest rushing to their aid. Billy hit their flank. He darted from
side-to-side and up-and-down to strike down one enemy after
another, rolling them up piecemeal while his team fixed their
position.

Dueling just a few at a time enabled him to
mow them down. The old guy must have come to the same conclusion
because his wand screamed for backup. Three squads of two-wanders
flew from the castle. Billy needed to intercept them, but faced
twin brothers who fought as a team.

Quads resort to swords at close range because
wands have a lag time between shots -- wands must "breathe.” The
more powerful the wand, the faster it can re-fire, but most wands
need a heartbeat to recharge. At close range, that's enough time
for an opponent to slice a quad open, so fliers fired until an
enemy got too close, then drew steel to defend against steel. Quads
can zip away from an incoming blast easier than they can avoid two
long weightless swords coming at blinding speeds.

Billy blocked a sword when a blast from his
brother struck him full in the chest. A more powerful fireball
would have engulfed him. He saw it too late, turning before it
hit.

The brothers used an old technique: one
occupied with a sword while the other fired, then they switched so
the enemy faced both a sword and a blast every heartbeat. It works
well two-on-one, and even better four-on-one.

Oh, how he longed for his own armor. His
shirt burning his skin, Billy flew up with his boot wands to
concentrate on removing what was left of his smoking chest plate.
He fired down at the closest brother, hitting him right in the
face, before soaking up his wands to heal his own crispy skin.
Billy often went through a dozen sets of body armor when fighting
all day in the arena. Today, he just discarded his second set.

Two-wanders can't bob and weave like a quad,
so commanders used them as a group to shell an area. Billy raced to
catch the third squad. Formation flying with the leader in front of
three lines of three, Billy only needed two swings of each long
sword to slice them up. He didn't kill them, but the cuts made them
tumble to the ground. A powerful burst of speed and he matched
speed and angle with the second squad. Billy cut them quickly and
raced to the first squad, now about to fire their first volley.

Billy got them first, then shot down at the
enemy, starting with the quad crying over his smoldering brother.
Billy's quads instinctively surged forward as the enemy turned to
face the new threat behind them, while several fled back to the
castle.

The problem with running away, as every
defeated army learns, is it lets the enemy attack from behind. Just
as cavalry chases down an enemy running away, so did Billy, Susan,
and Emily. The last one made it within range of those manning the
ramparts, but it did him no good as Billy trusted his
maneuverability long enough to slice the guy’s legs off.

Now all of Billy's quads hovered over one
side of the castle to pick off the defenders, then moved to another
area. The enemy foresaw the result and hid within buildings, which
limited a quad's maneuverability. Billy's two-wanders now
re-entered the fight, and with superior numbers they overwhelmed
each pocket of resistance.