I ducked and walked around them, keeping myself low and tucked behind the natural rock wall surrounding the balcony.
The area was rocky, but I sent out a few tendrils of magic to sense the area around me, looking for people who weren’t druids and weren’t vampires. Humans weren’t very…colorful. They were a dull beige, sometimes a gray when I sensed them. It wasn’t hard to pick them out. There was no kindness in their step, just domination and self-service.
Following fissures and ley lines in the rocks, I found all the closest humans and just kept tabs on them. The magic rolled along and pulled me down a bit further.
My senses ran smack into a pillar of pitch black. Oozing hate and cruelty, and so, so reminiscent of Savion and Niniane. Uncaring, focused, and laced with a drive for power.
Who was this?
A glance told me Rilen and Roran were engrossed in trying to figure out the shield—where it was, what was wrong with it, if it could be repaired, or if it would need to be rebuilt.
So, slowly, I made my way through the rocks, staying low, keeping tabs on my twins while I moved toward the pillar of black. I didn’t sense anyone approaching them, but I kept my rifle at the ready.
The black pilar was a man, dressed in a smart uniform of a muted green, with red decorations on the shoulder. He had a hat on, with a red band and a bright gold star in the center. He was off to the side of a busy encampment, watching the twins on the balcony with binoculars.
“That’s them,” he said to someone at his side. “They’re the reason we’re suddenly having trouble getting the missile to hit.”
“Orders, sir?”
“Rocket launcher, here now. We can get them from this angle.”
“Would a sharpshooter be better, General?”
“I said, get the munitions sergeant over here with a rocket launcher, Major. Do it now.”
What the hell was a rocket launcher? I hated these things.
The question was answered quickly as I saw someone walking toward the general with a massive piece of weaponry on his shoulder.
Oh, no.
Scrambling back as fast as I could, I realized there was no way I could reach the twins, I couldn’t break through to send my thoughts to them, either. I was simply too far down the hill from them and had no way to fix that.
I spun back around, lifted the rifle into position, and sighted as fast as I could at the sergeant’s head. I pulled the trigger at the same time as he pulled his. I watched him drop and then turned back to the twins.
It was just in time to see whatever the gunner had fired, slamming into the side of the mountain just above the twins.
The rock trembled, shook, and slid down the face.
A bang, a flash, and the boulders crashed down.
Crushing Rilen and Roran.
