The Doubtless Soldier
#3 of Bloodless Soldier
The plan was similar to the last one, the main force would engage the hordes of foot soldiers and beast-men, once they were fully committed to the fight, I would push as hard and fast as I could to the mage and deal with them by any means necessary. As plans went, it was good on paper, but the execution, as ever with plans of war, was when it got pear shaped.
Our squads were armed with more heavy machine guns this time, we lacked mortars but were trying to make up for it with the guns. The Brigadier said there should be enough guns and ammunition to hold back the sized force that had been scouted, but much more and it would be close.
I took out the scotch thistle the maiden had given me and looked down at it in my hand, it tingled a little, then as I watched, it seemed to melt onto my fingers, the colour flowing up my fur and, having reached my shoulder, re-worked itself back into a likeness of the thorny flower. All this magic and gods business was making it hard for an atheist to keep to his un-faith. I felt some warmth, the first hint of an emotion since I had died, there was a feeling deep inside that both the gods that wrought me were watching for me today.
We could see a glow on the ridge line ahead, unlike the sun at our backs it was a horrid purple and dark blue colour, almost leaving the impression that if black could glow, it would be black. The soldiers in front of me started to set up their guns, laying out ammo belts and boxes.
The enemy had spotted us and the whole hill seemed to rise to its feet and start to move towards us. "Sir, is that count within your calculations?" I asked the officer.
"No lad, no its not. Do you think you can help with them?" He replied, not taking his eyes from the living mass heading toward us.
"Will see what I can do Sir. See you on the other side of this fight, Sir." I waited for his nod before I started setting off.
I trotted to the flank of our line and checked my weapons. My Austeyr was freshly cleaned, I had acquired two clips of the special anti-mage rounds, I had taped them arse about so I could swap to them fast. At my hip was a Browning Hi-Power, currently loaded with regular rounds, but I had a clip of the anti-magic ones too. Also the trusty bayonet, the Koori Elder had etched some designs into one side of the blade, and the day before the three women had come and worked patterns into the other side, the blade had felt as heavy as lead in my hand after that, the 'mother' of the trio from the Goddess had told me it was already heavy with the weight of all the lives it would cut short.
I started jogging forward now, into the flank even as I heard the first of the soldiers start to fire, all of a sudden, as the first of the enemy fell to the dirt, energy flowed into me. It was cold power, it didn't hurt, it didn't incite me to a killing frenzy, what it did was promise me if I made more die, the power would become greater.
I was almost halted by the aggressiveness with which the power attempted to sway me, at first it was whispers of 'just kill some more, it will make you more' it quickly lead to a roaring of just the power chanting 'MORE MORE MORE' in my head. I narrowed my mind, held the power at bay in my head and said out loud, "How do I use you?"
Knowledge rushed into me, if I pushed like 'this' I could smash through any object, even living ones. If I twist like 'this' the very ground under my enemies feet will tear apart and swallow them.
Then the knowledge started to flow a different way, if I leaned like 'this' I could make those corpses rise and fight again, for me. I shuddered at the cold raw power flowing through me and it was at that moment, a small swarm of dead enemies marching around me cutting down still more, only to have those rise again, did I see the look in my enemies eyes, they were terrified, but not of me. They were running away from their fear, I was just in their way.
I started using my puppets as a ram, pushing through the throng rather than cutting it down, half of them had dropped their weapons in fear anyway. I and my ghoulish escort broke into a run, whatever they could be scared of, to blindly run into me and mine, must be something horrible indeed. And the thought of something that bad being on these Celtic lands drove me faster.
When I broke through to the mages encampment, the scene almost broke my concentration.
There were five mages, they were standing around a large metal curved and spiked pillar, chained to the pillar were a lot of humans and beast-men, males and females, but it was the fact that the chains were slowly retracting into the metal and that some already had some of their limbs sunk into the metal yet were still being drawn in further that made me scream.
That scream, it was the first full emotion I had felt since death, it was a hate of what these defilers were doing on my lands, it was sorrow for the souls already being consumed by their twisted effigy but mostly it was a promise. I was coming for them.
Three of the mages kept up their chant, but it seemed without all of their attention the chains stopped pulling at the desperate beings trying to get away. Of the two that turned to face me, one raised their eyebrows at me, "A necromancer? This world throws more and more interesting things our way. Join us young-ling, we could teach you much about your power, make it grow, give you more!"
I raised my eyes to the mage, my mouth still open, that eerie scream still issuing from my throat. They thought I was one of them, just a human with a little magic over dead things. That would be a miscalculation I would ensure they pay for.
Marching ahead still wailing my minions took the brunt of the two mages attacks aimed toward me, the few that looked to lance right at me seemed to veer away at the last second.
The weaker of the two mages, the opposite of the one who had made the offer earlier, turned and ran, I threw my power at the ground where his first step was to be and he fell strait down to have the earth meet again, leaving no trace of his presence.
Two of the other mages now turned to me and started casting offensively at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the beasts chained to the obelisk reach out and grab a knife, the poor creature looked directly at me and, grinning, brought the knife up into his chest. I felt his passing instantly, but the last thought of his spirit as it left his body was what spurned me into action, 'use my body, in death I can break the bonds, save some of my people, I beg you'.
My lips turned into a snarl, still my voice overpowering any speech the mages could have made, and thrust my power into the big wolf-mans body. It tore its chains loose, retrieving the knife from its chest, it drew it silently from the still slightly warm sheath. The first mage still chanting never saw him come up behind them, all they felt was the blade and a hot wetness pour down their front, in a moment they rose up beside the wolf. I couldn't work the mages magic, even from one of their corpses, but mine could flow freely from it and the last three mages fell when, turning to deal with the new threat, my minions dove upon them.
Letting go of the mages, I used the minions to break the chains of those still attached to the blighted pillar, bringing mercy to those who were already consumed beyond salvation. Suddenly a glow began just behind me as the great serpent started to pull free of my body to my left, and I felt the goddess' hand on my shoulder to my right. "Shhh, be at peace our warrior, your job is done and done well, let us handle this." and the softness of the first part of her sentence was almost washed away with the disgust she ladled on to the last word.
The Rainbow serpent curled up and around the spire, coiling tight around it, the goddess Brìghde reached out and touched the metal at the base and it started to boil away into a horrid cloud, until that too dissipated into the surrounding atmosphere.
Seeing the final threat removed, I let go of all the dead, their bodies falling to the ground in a loud 'thwump', it was then one of the beasts crawled up to me and on their hands and knees kissed the ground at my feet.
I bent down, lifted the young females chin up, with the gods still present my voice transcended any language gap, I said, "They will not harm you again, you are all welcome to the lands of my goddess, She and I will protect you." I am not sure to this day how it happened, but I went from just 'knowing' about the gods, to actually 'believing'. The goddess had spoken through me and when I met her gaze, I saw only love and admiration in her eyes.
I reached down further, taking the beast-woman's hand and together we walked over to before my two gods and we dropped to our knees and were blessed by them.