Death Weeps Part 13

The three groups converged in a loose triangle.

The girl with the fiery hair spoke first.

Caleb watched as she looked at the wild woman that lay at her feet, the leader of the Loser Group faced her, the big dude that had been with her in the beginning was held by Loser's minions.

Shaping up to be the mess I'd thought it'd be.

Yes indeedy.

I saw her look over her shoulder as a big dude with blue ice chips for eyes strode to stand behind her. His hands landed on her small shoulders in an obvious grip of possessive protection.

I recognized that stance right away.

She turned her face to look at our group and what a face it was, the light covering of filth didn't hide her delicate beauty. Luminous sea-kissed eyes overtook a creamy soft triangle of a face with a ma.s.s of red hair that was quite dark, not an ounce of the carrot color that John had. She stared as curiously at us as we did at her group. All the groups were stunned by our appearance.

A frozen moment settled over everyone. It was shattered when the tiny girl, who was actually a woman, said in a regal voice as smoothly confident as any I'd ever heard, "I am Clara, Queen of the Kingdom of Ohio." She looked at each of our faces that must seem foreign to her. "Who might you be?"

The leader of the creeper group stepped toward ours and my eyes flicked to his as I warned, "Stay there pal. You don't look like the friendly type."

The man scowled at me as he took our group in and I watched as a female warrior, gills included, slid off a humungous horse and walked to where the Queen stood, the flame of her hair lifted by the wind, tangling around the huge wrists of the man that stood behind her, his restless eyes challenging every s.p.a.ce they landed.

More of the guys with gills came to stand in a loose, battle-ready position behind the Queen and her guy. One huge dude with coal black hair like Jade's but strange, amber-colored eyes went to the fallen woman with the gold hair, sticking his hand out in an offer of help.

A rumble of electricity pulsed once as their flesh connected and Jade sucked in a breath, her hand involuntarily going to her throat.

"What?" I asked.

"They're related!"

"Yeah?" I said, not understanding why that mattered.

"'Cuz they didn't know," she answered, looking at the two with shocked wonder.

I swung my face to theirs, the look of surprised pleasure identically expressed as they gazed at each other and embraced.

"No way," I said.

"Way," Jade whispered.

The man pulled away from the woman. I'd thought she was tall until she was in the circle of his arms and there she looked tiny. He leaned back from her, intense joy on his face and said, "Sister."

Jade looked at me and smiled. A tiny spot of happiness stolen in the middle of a field of misery and portentous war to come.

I had a bad feeling about this. I hadn't gotten a sense of what or even who all these different groups were but things were coming to a head, I could sense it when the Leader of the Losers spoke, "You trespa.s.s here, Traveler." His shifty eyes sweeping over his group of friends, lingering too long on the girls. I could feel my eyes narrow.

What was this Traveler bulls.h.i.t?

Randi had come to stand beside me. "I think the chumps that came before us muddied the waters. We're gonna be real popular. Uh-huh," she whispered.

Tiff looked around, having heard that last. "Yup, better tune-up, Hart. Things are gonna go sideways."

Gee, ya think?

The leader's eyes narrowed on our group, then shifted to the dudes with gills. "This doesn't concern you of the Band."

I looked at the huge warriors he addressed. Ribbons of pink flesh wrapped their necks, flaring slightly with their breathing. They didn't look exactly thrilled with this jerk. My attention settled back on Mr. Pleasant. I considered his speech, an old-fashioned mash of modern and old, hard to understand.

My head jerked up with his next comment.

"Leave the women with us and we won't kill you." He threw a palm behind himself to indicate the men waiting at his back. "Our numbers are not to your advantage," he restated smugly.

K, it was official, I didn't like this a.s.swipe. But there was something I wanted to get straight. "Hey!"

He swung a disfigured face towards me. A not too distant beating had maimed it in a disgusting mangle of flesh. "What do ya mean, 'leave the women'?"

But it was one of the big warriors who answered, the one that didn't wear a metal breastplate but somehow resembled the other humungous male.

He replied for the other big guys, the Band, "These men be of the fragment. Marauders that plunder, pillage and confiscate anything of value upon the spoils of their raids."

The woman with the gold hair that had been struck said, "Aye, 'tis true." The man who was her brother, his arms wrapped protectively around her body, gave the slightest nod in agreement.

My eyes went to the redhead who had first spoken, the Queen. She was unbelievably tiny, smaller even than Jade. I decided I'd ask her, "So these guys..." I indicated with a loose palm, what I now understood was the fragment, "rob everybody and take the women?"

The serious man at her back nodded. "We leave, and it will be your women as well."

Not on my watch it wouldn't.

I turned to my friends, my face speaking for me.

Jonesy said it best, "Eff that. You're not touching our chicks, or any of the other ones ya pervs!" He emphasized this by pounding a black fist in an open palm, his teeth flashing very white in the middle of the silent meadow.

It was pretty effective as war calls went.

The creeper scowled, taking our words in. I didn't think he needed a translator. He may not have understood everything word for word but he got our meaning.

Yeah buddy.

When I saw his mouth lift in a lopsided sneer, I was certain he had confidence in the outcome of a conflict with us. He thought we would lose, his numbers greater.

We'd just see, wouldn't we?

A smile formed on my face, we'd just see.

I turned as the Queen spoke, slicing the tension as effectively as if she used a knife. But it was her smooth statement that captured the attention of us all, "There are few females Outside. This group roams about in the happenstance that an unprotected one may be captured for exploit."

Our group a.s.similated her words quickly.

"Okay, just point out the bad guys and let's kick some a.s.s!" Bry said, to which Jonesy stabbed a fist-pump in the air in agreement.

I began a.s.sessing the Queen and the warriors at her back. My count said around ten, the females useless. Except for the two that somehow looked alike. Both like female versions of the huge men. Finally, I shifted my gaze to the one that had his huge hands wrapped around her upper arms, his blue eyes like pieces of the sky.

As I looked, I recognized something familiar in them. The Queen was his Jade.

He'd die to protect her.

Well ditto, I thought, taking an instant liking to the warriors.

Parallel worlds, parallel principles.

I was totally rolling with that program.

"K, these ones are obviously the bad guys," I said and the men of the fragment unsheathed dirks from their hiding places.

Definitely meant business.

The guys in my group stood in front of the girls and Tiff came to stand at my side.

"How many?" she asked.

I turned, giving her a hard stare. "Living or dead?"

"Dead," Tiff responded.

I paused for a heartbeat... two. "Enough."

"K, let's round them up. Even up these odds."

"Caleb..." Jade began, sensing something.

I turned to her. "I think... I sense the dead are these guys," she gave a pointed look at the fragment.

I hesitated, thinking about her words. "Won't matter... " I paused, "... the dead are always the same."

"Daniel!" the Queen shouted as the men of the fragment began to move toward them and the man at her back dragged her behind the shield of his body.

Daniel responded, wrenching himself free from the guys that held him, unsheathing his long sword as he did.

"What do the young ones say?" I heard her yell in question.

Daniel responded with a translation even as he swung, "They will a.s.sist us in our defense!" he shouted over the beginnings of an unbeatable battle, the leader of the fragment moving straight for Queen Clara as the male of the Band pulled his lips away from his teeth in a smile of pure rage and vengeance.

To me it looked savage.

His vengeance had that edge to it, a savage vengeance.

Unleashed against the enemy.

I only had enough time to grab Tiff's hand, recognizing The Loser Leader and crew for the dirty fighters I knew they would be.

I was familiar with that style.

I'd had lots of practice on that score.

I quickly ascertained Jade's position and waded into the center of the battle, Tiff's hand dragged along in my grasp.

Terran met my eyes and released his Null-ness like water bursting through a dam. The voices of the dead roared to the surface of my consciousness in a brutal tidal wave of sound, sense and alarm. An ear-shattering chorus only Tiff and I could hear.

She was gettin' the full tune in, her power amplifying mine.

We put out a call to the dead that could be felt for miles and we watched as bones erupted from the ground, in a tornado of bleached ivory. They smacked into those of the fragment in their haste to rea.s.semble to their former selves. As if pulled by invisible strings, the organic matter of their bodies melded together midair, solidifying from nothing to the zombies I knew they would become.

I smiled instantly at the reconstruction, rage and pleasure spun together in a familiar spiral, my power over the dead unaffected by location.

By world.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, the ghost of Gramps' voice breathed through my brain, even as the dead coalesced and became whole.

Standing and ready for my words.

My will.

One of the huge Band guys brought out two small knives, one for each huge hand, the warrior woman stayed close to his side, her own weapons at the ready. When the first wave of the dead burst out of the snow laden meadow, their bones rose like ghostly branches into the air with skin like sand... a turbulent cyclone of collision and purpose.

We were ready.

The men of the Band's eyes widened as they paused in their a.s.sault, their eyes squinting in recognition. Then they looked at me and my friends. I'd seen that expression before. Evil. They thought what I was doing was evil. Maybe it was, but it was necessary.

That's the way evil sometimes was, necessary.

I saw the leader of the fragment hesitate as the bodies of my dead knitted before his eyes. Bones flowed and connected on an unseen wind, skin shrouding the skeletal forms until bodies were covered in a cloak of humanity. The leader stepped back from the storm of the dead, as they came alive in front of him.

I watched fear fill his deformed face and had a wave of fierce pleasure wash over me. I knew he was a c.r.a.ppy guy, that he'd had a plan of action against the warriors and the Queen. That he apparently would have stolen the girls. He'd need to be stopped.

My zombies were the cure.

My gaze locked with his and I knew he understood it was my hand of power that had been called, that was going to even up the playing field. The leader of the fragment watched as I called the dead to me like a dog brought to heel.

This one strained on a short chain, ready to fight. Ready to dominate on my command.

The leader looked at the newly risen. They must look like they'd come from thin air. I believed he probably thought it was by black magic.

I saw him sneer as his resolve returned. I knew this guy wasn't going to alter his plan. He was a focused dude.

Well effing great. So was I.

He surged forward, thrusting his knife into one of my zombies that was closest to him, recoiling as the smell hit him even as his blade nailed my dead. I felt the zombie's response, knew its reaction long before he did.