“He designed them last night,” Artemis said with a grin at her boyfriend. “This guy can do anything.”
Torrent smiled the grin of the besotted at her. “Thanks.”
“It's just the truth. I mean, look at these plans.” She waved at the blueprints. “They make my head spin.”
“I have to agree.” I shook my head at the intricate drawing. “Magic is so much easier.”
“Well, magic helped create these,” Torrent said. “And your elemental magic will help us build.” He glanced at the doorway, where several Intare were walking in. “Magic and manpower.”
“We're soldiers, not carpenters,” Aidan said. “I think the guy you want is Jesus.”
I chuckled. “Nice try. You're all going to help. Torrent will supervise and teach you how to use the tools.”
“Don't humans take years to learn this stuff?” Aaron, our Fabio lookalike, asked.
“Well, it's a trade, so I imagine they do,” Odin said. “But if humans can do it, so can you.”
“Sure, if you give us a few years.”
“Don't worry, I'll show you what to do,” Torrent said. “It's not that difficult.”
“And it doesn't have to last forever, just until the end of the war,” Viper said.
“But it has to be strong enough to withstand a sacred squadron of Angels amped up on Wild Magic,” Azrael said.
“I'm guessing he'll send more than he did last time,” I said. “Which means at least ten squadrons.”
“Ten squadrons?!” Aidan asked. “That's like . . . that's a lot of fucking Angels!”
“One hundred twenty.”
“What?!”
“Relax, Aidan. We have almost that many Intare and then there's the Squad and the Demons. We'll outnumber them.”
“And the structure will be strong enough to withstand them.” Torrent tapped the blueprints. “With Azrael's Earth magic, he can unearth rocks for the walls. We'll cover those with steel, then wood planks. On the outside, it will look like a small town church but it will be able to take extreme amounts of damage, including fire.”
“Uh, wood burns, Torr,” I said.
“Yeah, the outer walls will burn, but the inner won't. And you can draw energy from the flames and even direct them toward the Angels. Trust me, V. I've got it all planned out.”
“And vhat about land?” Kirill asked. “Vhat traps vill ve lay?”
“I'm not sure about those yet. Since they can fly, building spike pits and such seems like a waste of effort.”
“They'll probably land to engage us, but you're right. It might be better to set up projectiles instead of traps,” I said, then grinned. “We need catapults.”
“Now that you mention it, maybe the fortress isn't such a good idea,” Odin said.
“What?” Torrent's face fell.
“For Angels, we'll be like fish in a barrel.”
“But the barrel will be indestructible,” Torr argued. “And it will have a lid.”
“Still, it might be better to use the church as bait. While they attack it, we surround and attack them,” Odin said.
“Maybe instead of a fortress, we make a bomb,” I mused.
