Hoarse screams, half growls, half yelps followed. The tunnels on our side of the ward vomited the wererats in a dark flood. The front ranks of the diggers bore blisters where their fur had been burned clean. Robert was the last to emerge. His left arm was a mess of scalded muscle, the skin charred, almost black. He snarled and walked over to Thomas. The rat alpha clasped his mate’s hand into his and pointed at Doolittle and his medics, set up in the field behind us.
The fire raged beyond the ward. The shapeshifters continued to carry wooden beams into the tunnels, reinforcing them.
I petted my sword. Every second counted.
“Does Curran not involve you in his strategic sessions?” Ghastek asked.
“Nope, I’m just here to look pretty.” Curran didn’t need me. I wasn’t a general; I was a weapon in need of a target. Arranging large groups of people into an attack force wasn’t my thing.
Finally the flames subsided. A group of volhvs stepped forward, led by Grigorii. The druids formed up next to them behind Cadeyrn, their leader. The two groups split among the five tunnels and went in.
Silence claimed the field. The three bunkers closest to the tunnel blazed with orange, ready and primed to throw more burning crap on our heads.
Above the tunnel exits, beyond the ward, the air shimmered like heat rising from the pavement on a scorching summer day.
“What is that?” Ghastek squinted.
“Insects.”
The shimmers condensed into dark clouds. For a long second the five swarms hung above the ground, and then they streaked across the field to the bunkers. The swarms sank into the fortifications as if sucked in. Sharp screams followed. A man dashed from the right bunker, chased by a dark insect cloud, ran ten feet, and fell. The cloud peeled off. He didn’t move.
The volhvs and druids emerged from the tunnels and into the open.
Ghastek took a box from his pocket and checked it. “One hour and three minutes until activation.”
I rose. First ward down. Two to go.
THE SECOND WARD OF TRANSLUCENT PALE BLUE wasn’t a bouncer. Less than two miles in diameter, it covered the concourses and the inner buildings of the airport. It also looked thick and hard to break.
Solid concrete stretched for twenty-five yards on either side of the ward. Digging under it would take forever, and we were short on time.
Beyond the ward, a barbed-wire fence rose. The ground directly behind it looked freshly plowed. Odd.
To the left, a gate opened in the bottom of the concourse. Bodies poured out, about six feet tall at the shoulder, dark, with sharp bristles rising in a crest along their necks and humps on their backs. The animals galloped along the inner perimeter, flooding the space between the strip of the plowed ground and the tower.
“Are those buffalo?” someone asked behind me.
The leading beast braked directly in front of us and dipped its head. The colossal maw gaped open, displaying twin pairs of yellow tusks; the larger set looked bigger than my arm. A deep grunting roar burst from its mouth and broke into pissed-off snorts. It wasn’t a buffalo.
“Boars,” a druid next to me said. “Calydonian boars.”
I’d fought a Calydonian boar before. They were strong and aggressive as hell, and pain only pissed them off. Their bristles cut like razor blades. It took four mercs to bring one female down, and two of us had automatic weapons. There were at least three dozen pigs out there, and all of them were male.
Each pig was six and a half feet at the shoulder. Two and a half tons of pure stupid rage. Curran might kill one in single combat. Mahon could as well. Aside from that, a regular-sized shapeshifter didn’t stand a chance. Not even in a half-form. The pigs would bulldoze over them.
Curran came up to me. A group of alphas followed: Mahon and his wife, Martha; Daniel and Jennifer; Thomas Lonesco; Aunt B; Jim . . .
Curran nodded at the tower. “Can you break that ward?”
I glanced at the tower. Six hundred yards away. About two thousand feet of distance, full of boars. “If you can get me to it.”
My blood would break almost anything, with enough magic. The question was, did I have enough power in me? I guessed we’d find out.
Curran grinned, looking slightly evil. “Get ready to run.”
Daniel and Jennifer stepped in front of me. I looked at Jennifer. Should you really be here?
Her upper lip trembled in a precursor to a snarl. Right. She would do her job, and I had to do mine.
Derek took a spot to my left, Jezebel to my right. Aunt B and Thomas brought up the rear. Behind them six shapeshifters formed into two rows, three people in a line. The renders.
Bob from the Mercenary Guild shouldered his way into the group and heaved his sword.
Eduardo emerged from the tunnel, dragging a huge sack. Over six feet tall, the werebuffalo was slabbed with thick muscle even in his human form. Behind him three members of Clan Heavy pulled identical sacks.