Chapter Two

Chapter Two

 

There was a crack of what sounded like thunder in the Celtic sky as Irin dropped to the ground and rolled to soften her landing.  She was just getting up and dusting herself off when a double thunderclap tore through the sky, and Jace and Lance landed side by side in crouched positions. 

 

“Still need to work on that landing, huh?” Lance teased as he watched her pull a twig out of her hair. 

 

Irin glared but knew it wasn’t worth it while they were working, so she simply opted for, “Oh, stuff it, you sod.” 

 

Jace rolled his eyes as he reached into a pocket on his left pant leg and pulled out a small scanner.  The clear touchscreen device was about the size of his hand, and it flared to life when he flicked a button in the upper right corner.  He ran his fingers over the screen for a few seconds to confirm their location. 

 

“Looks like we’re in the right spot, and it’s just noon now,” Jace told the others.  Tapping the screen a few more times, he slowly spun in a circle to get an accurate reading on the scanner.  “The rift opened approximately one mile southeast of here, but there are no hostiles present there.  I’m still not detecting the ripple, but it’s only a matter of time.  We need to find the epicenter and fast.”

 

Irin slipped an earpiece off of her utility belt and into her left ear.  Her brothers followed suit, and they all tapped them with their fingers to check functionality.  Satisfied, Irin held a finger to her earpiece and whispered, “Alright boys.  Let’s go find us some baddies.”  The twins nodded in agreement.

 

Jace took point as they headed into the forest, sweeping the scanner from side to side as it took readings.  A few hundred yards into the trees, he halted and held up his fist to stop the others.  “The trajectory is putting it somewhere in this vicinity.  Fan out,” he ordered.  Jace was always the official leader on missions like this, but he didn’t let it go to his head.  It made things easier if there was only one person calling the shots.

 

Irin drew her weapon from her belt and held it in both hands securely as she angled right from the group.  Lance mimicked her as he angled left, and Jace safely stowed his scanner as he continued forward. 

 

“Check in every 10 minutes,” Jace’s voice filtered through her earpiece, “otherwise it’s radio silence.”  Irin and Lance each tapped their earpieces once to confirm.

 

Irin was surefooted as she navigated the forest underbrush.  She couldn’t help thinking that if circumstances were different, she could better appreciate the beauty of her surroundings.  As it was, she could only focus on finding their target before the others did. 

 

The first ten minutes of her search only turned up a few scampering bunnies, so when she checked in, it was to report all was quiet on her end.  Lance and Jace responded similarly.  Four minutes later, however, Irin began to pick up faint sounds in the distance.  As she moved towards them, it became clear that they weren’t normal forest noises and that she had stumbled upon something. 

 

Pressing a finger to her earpiece, she radioed out, “I think I found something.  I’ll let you know when I get closer.”  Then she tightened her grip on her weapon and tiptoed closer as fast as she dared. 

 

After a few hundred yards, the sounds had reached their normal volume, and she knew they were coming from the other side of the trees up ahead.  She stole up to one of the trees and peered around it surreptitiously, only to be greeted by a sight straight out of a children’s story. 

 

“Hey guys,” she whispered with her hand to her ear, “it’s some sort of makeshift camp or village.  There are a lot of people milling about.” 

 

“Hold on, I’m pulling up your location,” Jace responded as he drew his scanner back out.  Though she couldn’t hear it, Irin knew his fingers were skimming over the screen once more.  “I’m cross referencing your location with an updated trajectory, and you’ve got a 98% match.  Stay where you are; Lance and I are coming to you.”  She heard Lance’s confirming tap and gave one of her own. 

 

She peered back around the tree to try and get a better read on the situation.  It really did seem to be a little tent village that had sprung up in the middle of the forest.  Though she couldn’t hear anything over the noise of the camp, she would put money on there being a river or stream very close by.  Never taking her eyes off of the people closest to her, she began to skirt the village so she could see from different angles and get a better idea what they were dealing with.  When she had covered about 180 degrees around the camp, she stopped to wait for her brothers. 

 

It was five minutes before Irin heard Jace come up beside her.  He wordlessly took in what she had found and then turned back to his scanner, presumable to verify trajectories and Lance’s ETA.  Irin continued to watch the people moving about, picking up any patterns she could, wondering where exactly the target would present. 

 

Five minutes later Lance came loping into view and took a draught of water from the bottle in his pack.  Wiping his mouth on his arm, he leaned around the tree his siblings were standing next to, and his eyes widened in surprise.  “What the hell did we just walk into?  Robin Hood or something?” he wondered incredulously. 

 

Irin sniggered.  “Sure seems like it, doesn’t it?” she whispered back. 

 

Jace spoke up from his position a few feet away.  “I’ve got it narrowed down to a fifty yard radius centered on the other side of this camp.  We’re going to have to make our way around quickly.  We’ve only got three minutes or so.”  Irin and Lance responded wordlessly by moving to his flanks as they switched their earpieces from manual transmit to automatic transmit.  That would allow them to communicate without touching their ears �" very useful when trying to wield a weapon.

 

They moved silently with their senses on full alert and their blood humming.  A ripple was in the air, and they were so attuned to it that they could feel it.  As they rounded the side of the camp and the back came into view, Irin felt slightly vindicated.  Approximately 100 yards from the makeshift village was a tinkling stream with a few women perched at its edge, conversing as they performed various chores.  Irin's eyes raked over the area, just knowing this had to be their target. 

 

Jace indicated to them that he would move to the opposite side of the women to cover that opening. He had barely gotten beyond their targets when they felt it: the ripple had arrived, and they scanned the area to pinpoint their objective.  In the middle of the three women, the air took on purple glow and started to pulse.  Waves of tinged energy flowed from the denser core in a direct imitation of its namesake.  None of the women took notice of the change in the atmosphere, but they weren’t like the siblings.

 

Irin felt a mixture of wonder and adrenaline pound through her.  It was always a great feeling seeing ripple energy at work in the world, but this was the exact moment for which the enemy was waiting as well.  There was only a fourteen minute window while the ripple was vulnerable, and that was plenty of time for it to be compromised. 

 

“There, across the river!  12 o’clock!” Lance radioed out.  Irin whipped around and squinted at the tree line.  It took a few seconds, but she soon was able to make out three hostiles prowling just on the other side of the trees.  Irin hated how their enemy never took care to move about unseen by the locals.  Anyone could take one look at them and know something wasn’t right, because they weren’t normal people at all; they were Stealers.  Every one of them was built like a tank with broad shoulders, thick arms, trunk-like legs and grizzled features that seemed to be held in the permanent scowl of any child’s nightmares.  Also add in the fact they dressed in what appeared to be oily furs and carried axes and broadswords, and they could have been Vikings for all anyone knew �" very angry Vikings. 

 

“I’m going in,” Lance continued as he rushed toward the stream, weapon aloft in front of his chest. 

 

“Lance, I’m coming in on your right.  Irin, cover the target,” Jace commanded as he too took off for the stream.  Irin hastened as close to the target as she could without being noticed.  She would be damned if she broke cover before the hostiles did.  Keeping her eyes peeled, she was in constant motion, turning right and left to make sure no one was approaching the target.  Within seconds she heard a pulse shot ring out over her earpiece and knew Lance had engaged the enemy.  She could no longer see him, so he must have moved into the trees, but Jace was still visible on the opposite shore, firing shots into whatever foray was occurring just out of sight. 

 

Irin wasn’t fooled into thinking that her brothers had it completely covered, though.  The rift had been too big for just three hostiles.  Turning back to her left, Irin saw exactly what she had suspected.  A fourth Stealer had just run out of a different part of the forest and was heading for the stream, making enough noise to scare the women along the bed.  They looked up to see this huge man hurtling through the water and let out screams of fear as they clumsily tried to gather their things and run away.  She hoped they would stay away long enough for them to conclude this encounter and get out of there. 

 

“Guys, I’m taking on a fourth hostile headed my way,” she called out as she stepped out of the trees and took aim at the man barreling toward the frantic women.  She pulsed off two shots in rapid succession, but he slid into the river just before they landed.  Before she could blink, though, he was back on his feet running.  She cursed the brute’s apparent agility and took aim for what would be her last shot if she missed.  Holding her breath, she fired straight and true, and for a brief moment she thought he wouldn’t have time to avoid it, but at the last moment he brought up his huge sword and allowed the metal to diffuse the blow.  Crap! she cursed her bad luck.  It was a sad day indeed when the Stealers had learned that pulse shots could be blocked by metal weapons. 

 

Irin knew her enemy was too close to chance another shot; if she missed, she wouldn’t have enough time to defend herself.  Instead, she holstered her weapon on her belt and reached over her shoulder to draw her own sword.  It wasn’t nearly as big as the one being wielded against her, but hers was lighter and just as strong, allowing her to move faster. 

 

He came at her like a bulldozer, pitting his strength against her speed as he swung a great downward stroke toward her head.  She took a quick half step backward to brace herself as she raised her own sword to receive the blow, and it shook her arms to the very core.  She knew immediately that she would need to incapacitate him quickly because she couldn’t take many more blows like that. 

 

“Irin, I’m coming your way to help,” Jace’s voice filtered in as she parried her enemy’s blow to the side and then deftly spun around to strike at his ribcage.  Again, he surprised her with his ability to jump out of the way in the nick of time.  She lined up for another swing, but he met her and fended her off. 

 

They continued their dance for a minute longer before Irin felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.  Her enemy hadn’t gained any ground over her, but he was smiling.  As soon as that thought filtered through her brain, warning bells flared, and she picked up the speed of her attacks while forcing her enemy to turn around with his back to the target so she could see what was happening.  What she saw made her heart freeze.  A fifth hostile was on the same side of the river and moving toward the target.  Jace had spotted him and was giving chase, but one of the Stealers from the other side of the river must have escaped Lance because he had just emerged from the trees and was going to attack Jace from behind.  They were attempting to trap her brother, and he would never see it coming. 

 

“Jace!” she cried out, trying to warn him, but she was cut off when her foe aimed an especially hard swing at her left side and she had to rush to defend herself.  Jace skidded to a stop and glanced over at her in alarm, but he didn’t have time to respond as his prey had stopped his dash to the target, instead turning to defend against Jace’s attack. 

 

Irin knew he didn’t have much time before the other hostile reached them.  Steeling herself, she launched into a lightning quick series of offensive moves that immediately put her enemy on the defensive.  The attacks were so fast that he didn’t have time to think as he responded �" it was all instinct, which is what she wanted.  She used her moves to lure him within range and then drew her sword up and around his blade until her hilt momentarily caught on his, locking the two weapons together.  In that instant, Irin swung out her leg and deftly kicked her opponent’s legs out from underneath him.  Before he reached the ground, she let go of her blade with her right hand and swung back to punch him in the jaw. 

 

She didn’t even wait for him to hit the dirt before she whipped around and ran flat out while calling to her brother, “Jace!  Jace, behind you!”  Jace chanced a glance over his shoulder, and his eyes widened as he took in the oncoming attacker.  He didn’t have time to respond, though, because his current opponent took a hard swing at his legs.  The hostile from across the river had just made it to their side, no more than thirty yards from where Jace was battling.  Irin skidded to a stop and let her blade fall out of her left hand while she drew her weapon with her right.  She knew from this range she had a snowball’s chance in hell of hitting a moving target, but she hoped that she could draw him away from Jace. 

 

Taking quick aim, her shot skewed right instead to pass in front of the hostile.  Luckily, he had been scared enough by the shot to drop to the ground to avoid it, and that was the only opening Irin needed.  She reached to the ground with her left hand to grab her sword and started running again, firing a couple more shots from the weapon still in her right hand, not expecting to hit him; they were just to make sure the hostile didn’t cover the measly feet separating him from her brother. 

 

By the time she reached her opponent, his focus was off Jace and solely on her.  She stowed her weapon and raised her blade to meet his forceful blow.  As they traded swings and parries, Irin was able to tell this opponent wasn’t as agile as her last, so she put her speed to its full potential, initiating a series of rapid attacks.  It wasn’t long before she had him quailing under blows, but he wasn’t giving in easily.

 

 Irin began to feel her arms tire, and she was desperately looking for any opening.  Finally, her opponent stumbled over a rock on the ground, momentarily compromising his balance.  She took advantage of this opening and lunged at his head, because without his feet settled, he was forced to raise his arms to protect himself.  She allowed her blade to glance off of his raised sword and spun in to deliver a powerful elbow to his unprotected abdomen, knocking the wind out of him.  Then she took two quick steps around his side and brought the hilt of her sword down on the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.

 

© 2012 Padfoot101