“I do, Lord,” his advisor confirmed.“I have maps ready to hand out that are broken into grids.I’ve ensured we’ll be able to search the other four boroughs thoroughly, making certain no areas will be missed.”
“Of course you have,” Lachial muttered with an eyeroll.Vetis snickered quietly.Phul cut a look at them both, warning them to behave.
“Hand out copies to everyone in this room,” Rahab ordered.“Remain in groups of five while you search,” he added.“The knights will be hunting for us.Their numbers still seem to be limited so far.Use your walky-talkies if you run into trouble.”He directed that comment at Xathan.His dark-skinned lackey grimaced at the reprimand for not using his own device when he’d encountered his progeny.Semiaza had absconded with Xanthia after killing two soldiers.
“What about those of us with cambions who’ve become bonded with the knights, Lord?”Ornias asked.“There’s not much point in us searching for them.Their base won’t be anywhere near New York.Not if our enemies can teleport already.”
“Good point,” Rahab agreed, surprising them all again.“You ran into your progeny tonight by random chance.Phul, Ornias and Vetis can all roam around Manhattan with their guards.You might get lucky and trap the cambions and their knights.”Xathan had other duties he needed to perform, so he was exempted from that order.Vetis’ daughter hadn’t bonded with a knight as far as he knew, but she was with their enemies.“By the way, I want the knights to be captured alive,” Rahab said.
It took a second for his words to register with his men.“You want the knightsalive, Lord?”Phul asked in shock.“Why?”
Rahab glanced at Xathan, then smirked.“Xathan and I performed an experiment when we captured Tolas and Berit’s offspring,” he said.“We forced them to copulate when the cambion was fertile.I believe the female fell pregnant.”
“You want the knights to impregnate our spawn, Lord?”Vetis asked in confusion.
“How else are we going to increase our army?”Xathan pointed out.“Our enemies have been picking us off slowly.We can’t create more cambions, thanks to Fate’s interference.”
“Using the knights as sperm donors is my solution,” Rahab said, proud of his plan.
“It is a brilliant plan,” his advisor said.“If we were successful once, then we can be successful again.Keeping the cambions hostage will force the knights into compliance.They’ll do anything to protect their females.”
Phul didn’t like being kept out of the loop like this.He knew he wasn’t as smart as Xathan, but he’d always been loyal to their commander.He kept his bitter thoughts to himself.His spawn had become bonded to Camriel.Neither had shown their faces in Manhattan since they’d rescued Jacquin, as far as he knew.Wandering around the city in the hopes of running into them seemed like a colossal waste of time to him.He wasn’t about to speak up again after already pushing his luck tonight.
“We’re the only soldiers who know about this plan,” Rahab said.“I want it to remain that way.”
“I’ve heard some rumors that we aren’t returning to the Void when we die this time, Lord,” one of his lackeys said in a disturbed tone.“Is there any truth to that?”
Rahab exchanged glances with Xathan and Phul.Both males nodded at him that it was time to tell them the truth.“It’s true,” their commander admitted.“Anarchy advised me that this will be our final war.New knights and soldiers will be created to take our places after the battles are over.”
Murmurs of fear and anger rumbled around the room.Rahab let them get it out of their systems.
“Quiet!”Phul shouted when his boss flicked a look at him.“Lord Rahab has more to say,” he said, glowering at them.
“Anarchy also told me the survivors of whichever side wins the war will be allowed to remain here on Earth,” Rahab went on.“He said if we bond with our cambions, we’ll become stronger and faster like Amaros and his knights appear to be.”
“Now you’re talking!”one of his lackeys exclaimed in excitement.
“Unfortunately, that appears to be yet another fabrication,” Rahab said, instantly killing the mood.“Berit didn’t notice an increase in his abilities after Wynter became fully healed.I also didn’t receive any benefit from their bond as Anarchy promised.”
Xathan spoke up when mutters were exchanged.“We have a theory that this might be because the cambion was defective,” he said.“We won’t know for sure until we capture another cambion and her sire forces her to bond with him.”
“We can’t allow our offspring and the knights to become linked if we capture them before they discover their potential bond,” Rahab said, tone turning cold and hard.“They’ll both become far harder to control once their strength increases.”
“How many cambions have bonded with knights so far, Lord?”another soldier asked.
“Five that we know of,” Rahab said.“Phul’s daughter is bonded to Camriel.Ornias’ is bonded to Kochab.Xathan’s cambion is linked to Semiaza.Berit’s offspring is bonded to Tolas.The final other female killed her sire with lightning and became linked to Jacquin, or so we believe from what Phul overheard some humans saying.”
“There’s still fifteen cambions who are out there, waiting for you to claim them,” Xathan said.“Fate is working hard to make sure they meet the knights she intends them to become bonded to.We need to find them first and use them as lures to draw their mates into an ambush.”
“Then we’ll spring our trap, force the couples to procreate and slowly, but surely increase our army,” Rahab said.“We can keep the war going indefinitely until we have enough spawn to work with.Then we can finish off our enemies and claim this world as ours forever.”
“Anarchy chose us above the others,” Phul said.“We’ll inherit this planet and the humans will become our slaves.”
Rahab grinned fiercely at the rowdy cheers coming from his team.They all knew the rest of his squad were mere cannon fodder.Chaos had made its choice and none of them were about to complain about it.“A knight and a cambion are heading to Manhattan right now, according to a human they call the Mad Prophet,” their commander said.“You’ll all be stationed at the bridges and tunnels to keep watch for them until they show up.This will be the perfect opportunity to capture our next pair, hopefully before they become bonded.”
