“It’s barely holding on,” he answered, rounding another corner. “Just barely. The impacts are shaking it, and I don’t know how much longer it has under this bombardment. Hell, I don’t even know how they found us.”
“If the shield was already failing, it wouldn’t have been hard,” Rilen said. “What are these explosions?”
“Missile attacks, from their tanks outside El Calafate,” he said.
That meant absolutely nothing to me.
“Missiles?”
He nodded as we headed down the corridor as fast as we could. “Explosive incendiary devices that are launched through the air. Have you seen airplanes? That, but smaller, and they don’t carry passengers, just explosives. Depending on the payload, they could make a small crater to blow off the top of the very mountain.”
“Oh, shit,” Roran said.
Phoenix stopped at a door and pulled it open.
A wall of guns stood there.
“Take a rifle and handgun. You’ll need them for protection. I hope someone is a crack shot. The humans firing on us are trained military, and they spend years training.”
“I’m good,” I said.
“Excellent.” Phoenix grabbed one of the extremely long, very sleek looking guns. “This is a sniper rifle. I don’t expect you’re as good as that, but it’ll give you the most precision.” He slapped it into my hand. “Aim for the head.”
Phoenix outfitted the twins with long guns and two small ones apiece. He handed me a small one at the end.
“Just in case.” Pointing down the hall, he motioned us on. “That’s the way up. You’ll be outside at the door at the top. I have duties, but I’m going to trust you not to get your asses hurt up there.”
“We’ll be fine.” Roran waved him off.
We ran up the stairs to see what we could do.
“This wasn’t what I had in mind when I said I was bored,” I grumbled.
“What? There’s nothing like a good fight.” Roran’s sarcasm bled through his words.
Rilen pulled the door open just as a massive explosion went off, knocking us all back into the stairwell. It was only my last-minute grab for a railing that kept us from tumbling backward all the way down.
“What the hell are those things?” Rilen growled.
“Missiles, of course,” Roran said.
Rilen smacked the back of his head.
We all managed to stand up and walk out of the hall. But what was there was nothing like anything we’d ever seen before.
Things were hurtling through the air, raining down on the mountain. The same things we had seen in Hilton Head. Propelled with small gouts of flame, they were speeding from someplace we couldn’t see in the distance.
The ones that hit the barrier exploded in midair, and if it was near a strong point, the explosion would be whisked away. If it wasn’t, all sorts of fire and debris rained down on the mountain and the various contingencies of vampires we could see from where we were.
And if one got through…those were the ones shaking the mountain, taking it apart piece by piece.
“Oh, gods, this is a mess,” I whispered.
“Kimber, I know your magic is more powerful than ours,” Rilen said, “but let us try to fix this because you’re a much better shot with that gun. You can pick off the attackers as they approach.”
“Combined, we should have no problem,” Roran added.
What could I do but agree? They were right. Their magic was stronger together—and I had to admit it was already attuned to this world. I was still having trouble.
