There were faint sounds coming from the other room. People moving about, and someone talking. I couldn’t make out the words.

  “Stay behind me,” I said in a loud whisper to the newcomers. “Spread out when we go through. Andrew, Francine, stay back and out of the line of fire when we go through the door. Heal us as you can. Ingrid can tell you who to HEAL if you don’t see someone taking damage.”

  I wasn’t sure what all we’d be hit with, but I expected a lot. Guns, magic, psychic mind control. Maybe things being thrown. I put up a PSYCHIC SHIELD on our side of the wall with no physical defense in it. It would be a two-way, move-through shield. Until it went down.

  “I’m dropping a MAGIC WARD on them,” I said, drawing my rapier. “It won’t stop psychic abilities or guns. Try to draw them out of it. I hope our armor will hold long enough if we have to go into it.”

  “Shadow, go through first when Bhaarrt opens the door, and I’ll drop a shield in front of you. If you spot whoever’s leading this, take them out. Same for Bhaarrt, you’re next. Yoshi, you go for casters and Healers inside the ward. Mentalists have priority if you spot any. Their control drops if you kill them. Ingrid has Resurrection if we need it. Shadow, you know the prime target. Your choice after that.”

  “Last thing. If we can’t free Blaze, I’ll take her down. She’s mine…my target.”

  A few gasps from my party, especially Yoshi, didn’t surprise me.

  “Ingrid. Buff us.”

  She stared at me. “Do you know what that means?”

  “Yes. Plus five for attack, damage, defense…ten for Morale, extra Hit Points, and Bloodlust. We fight to win or we don’t come back. With our shield or on it.” I stared at her.

  She looked at Bhaarrt, who nodded. Yoshi turned toward her as well. Drawing his sword, he saluted her and softly said, “Do it.”

  Shadow drew her swords as well. “Ready, bossman. Let’s do this.”

  The two ambulance techs looked scared. I didn’t blame them. Andrew opened his bag and drew out two plastic-wrapped scalpels, handing them to Francine. Then two more from his bag. He unwrapped them. One for each hand. Finally, he nodded to me.

  Ingrid didn’t shout this time. She was just loud enough for us to hear.

  “In the name of the All Father, we fight for you. We fight to free this village. We fight to end those who follow Hel and Loki. We fight to be free men and women. For huscarls, theigns, and thralls. For glory and our captured comrades. Grant us your boon. Say it with me…Blóe fyrir óeinn, Blóe fyrir óeinn, Blóe fyrir óeinn!”

  We did as she commanded, and I saw her momentary white wings appear as I felt the buff hit. I felt it harder than when she buffed the lines at the quarry. I could feel myself growing stronger, tougher, faster. Fearless. Nothing was going to stop us now.

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  “Bhaarrt, open the door,” I said, lifting my cane and adding a MANA SHIELD attached to it for extra defense. I held it up and ducked a bit behind it, like I did back in my armored fighting days.

  Tucking his maul under his shield arm, he stepped forward and yanked open the door. It bounced against the wall in our room, announcing our presence.

  “Bhaarrt smash!” he roared, grabbing attention and his maul. That gave time for Shadow time to invisibly get through ahead of him.

  Raising his maul, he ran through after her. Yoshi close on his heels, Katana in both hands, read to strike as he shifted to his right the moment he entered the room.

  I cast my MANA SHIELD ahead of them and ran through the doorway after them, looking for Blaze and whoever was controlling her.

  They were waiting for us. Guns. PSYCHIC BOLTS. A few other lower-level magic BOLTS. Followed by one big Level 9 FIRE BOLT aimed right down my throat.

  I’d found BLAZE!

  She had her staff out and was using it as a focus. My cane attached SHIELD stopped it, but collapsed from the impact. It wasn’t much…but I felt it hit. Firing a Level 12 MANA BOLT back at her, she had a FIRE SHIELD up in time to stop it. It was like I could feel hers the way she looked like she felt mine. Except mine was harder.

  Then, I felt the mental attack. The CHARM PERSON I’d been expecting. My PSYCHIC SHIELD stopped most of it, but dropped. My level helped as well. I spotted the person who cast it. He was wearing a black suit jacket over a black shirt and pants. There was a red armband on his left arm. It looked like most of the people still standing were wearing one as well.

  While I approved of his color choice in clothing, I ignored him and shot a MANA BOLT at Blaze. Her quick shield stopped it, this time.

  We were facing at least ten people…maybe a few more. Plus the hostages.

  “You fool!” he screamed. “Kill the hostages!”

  Yoshi changed course and aimed for the back wall. He sliced one of their Healers across the chest as he ran past them. Two men with rifles pointed at the hostages looked like they were ready to start shooting them.

  I hadn’t counted how many we faced, but there were more than I wanted shooting at me while some were casting spells. A couple of magic attacks slipped around my SHIELD and hit me. It stopped my next cast from the damage and pain. That was followed almost immediately by two HEALing spells. Low-level, but they helped.

  It still hurt.

  Barely, I managed to stop Blaze’s next FIRE BOLT with my next shield.

  Somewhere I wasn’t concentrating on, I heard bullets hitting steel. They were shooting at Bhaarrt, but his shield was bulletproof to whatever they were firing.

  That’s when I heard the scream of “Bhaarrt smash!” coming from in front of me and to my left. Then the sound of his hit. The start of a scream cut off mid-cry. It sounded like a heavy weight dropped onto a bag of tree branches and soft mud.

  By this time, even at my slow, hobbling run, I reached Blaze’s FIRE SHIELD she'd erected between us. It was low, waist height, like she used to use to cover doorways in the dungeon.

  That was a fatal mistake.

  I thrust over it into her neck.

  “Ingrid!” I screamed, rolling over the top of her FIRE SHIELD, not caring if I was burned or not. Dropping my sword and cane, I grabbed Blaze, easing her down to the floor. I tried to use pressure to stop the bleeding. I’d hit her carotid artery …not the trachea like most people would aim for.

  She was bleeding out. Fast.

  She looked at me. I saw her smile. Then she collapsed, eyes slowly closing as she stopped breathing. She exhaled her last breath, and died.

  Looking up, tears blurring my eyes, I saw a rifle pointed at me from a few feet away. I didn’t see his face, but I saw a red armband, and without thinking I flung a full-powered MANA BOLT at him.

  His body jerked backward, dropping the rifle on the way to sprawling backwards on the floor. I hit him with another one. I didn’t care if he was alive or dead.

  Reaching forward, I pulled Blaze to me, cradling her in my arms. I didn’t care about the blood still draining from her neck onto our clothing.

  Blaze was dead. I killed her.

  That was all that mattered.

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