Assassin, Tiffany N. [carter reed .txt] 📗

had always wanted to be in the front lines and fight. But he was too young and everyone insisted he would stick to the job at hand. He was a really good fighter too. It was like he was born to have a sword in his hands. It just came naturally to him.
Markus was waiting for Jake in the command box located above the training area on top of the slope that separated the camp from the military base where he can keep an eye on everyone.
When Jake looked around, everyone was tense. Some where even shaking in their boots. Something wasn’t right. They were all aligned in perfect rows and as still as night. Jake tried to avoid notice but being the only thing moving, that was kind of hard to do. Some people snickered. But others just looked at him and resumed their positions. They were used to seeing him late.
“Thank you, Jake, for joining us today.” Markus said in his booming voice.
Jake didn’t reply but he was burning with anticipation for it to end.
“Now that everyone’s here,” Markus said, “we have news that the Demons that were ambushed by the Council’s orders have organized a counter attack.”
Whispers aroused.
“Why do the Demons attack in the middle of the summer?”
“The Council has doomed us all.”
“I’m getting way to old for this…” (This was Patrick by the way.)
“I’m betting one hundred dollars that Jordan won’t last ten minutes.”
“Hey, Simon, you look a little green. You OK?”
“Most of the men are still drunk form last night. They probably planed for this.”
Jake scowled at the last comment. The men couldn’t fight if they can’t figure out the difference between friend and foe. They would just shot at anything they see. And it was a disgrace that they would be defeated because some men drank one too many beers.
Markus held up his hand and the soldiers became silent once more. “I see reason for you to fear but we cannot let such feelings cloud our judgment and let the Demons get the upper hand.”
Some of the soldiers nodded in agreement.
“What happens if we lose?” one of the soldiers whispered to himself. But it was still loud enough for everyone to start doubting.
Markus glared at the person who had spoken. It was Simon. Patrick’s son. He looked like he was going to faint any moment now.
“Keep thinking like that and you wouldn’t last a second on the battle field. Demons take advantage of our darkest feelings. Hate, anger, doubt, loneliness, and countless others. You should know better than to doubt our abilities.”
Simon seemed to be trying to sink back into the crowd, his face red with embarrassment. “Y-yes sir! It won’t happen again, Sir!”
“You all know the battle plan!” Markus focused back onto the waiting crowd. “What are you waiting for ladies? Get to work!”
The soldiers all marched to their battle stations. The only two Magicians of the camp, Lucky and Bon, tended to their giant eagles.
“Jake.”
He jumped at the voice and spun around to find Markus standing before him. He stood up straighter.
“Sir!”
“Relax, Jake. I’m not here to throw another chain saw at you.”
Jake’s shoulders slackened a little, but he still stood to attention.
“I want you to get to the camp with Lucky and Bon. I have a feeling that the lines won’t hold for long…” Markus’s voice betrayed his worry. This scared Jake. It took a lot to make Markus nervous.
When he saw Jake looking, his expression hardened. “Don’t worry though. It takes a dragon to take down those two.” Markus gestured to the eagles. “Those slimly worms are going to have a tough time getting past us!”
“Yes, sir!” Jake said, and then scrambled over to Lucky and Bon.
Lucky and Bon were twins. They both had blond hair and hazel eyes. They were also three years older than him – 17 years old if you can’t do math – but they were some of his best friends. The only way you could tell them apart was that Bon had a scar on the side of his head. As for Lucky, that wasn’t his real name. His real name was Ben. Lucky was just a nickname given to him when he was the sole survivor in a mission to steal some info from a Demon base. Bon had stayed behind. Jake thought that they just called him Lucky, though, because it was kind of confusing with Ben and Bon.
“Lucky! Bon!” Jake called them over.
They looked up for a moment. Tied down their eagles and jogged over to him.
“Hey, Jake! Where were you last night? We thought you wanted to throw water balloons at Patrick with us? You should have seen his face!” Bon called.
“I was… busy.” Jake decided to keep the book a secret.
“Whatever. What are our orders this time?”
Jake relayed the message. He also told him that Markus doubted that the lines could hold.
“Wow. If even Markus doubts our survival, we don’t have much of a chance.” Lucky said.
“Don’t worry about it! We still got you guys! Those Demons won’t be able to stand against your magic!”
Lucky and Bon didn’t share Jake’s optimism.
Right then, all hell broke lose.
A hundred of fiery arrows flew to the front lines, followed by a rain of bullets. A dozen fine men fell. The others either dove into the cement wall seeking protection or held up shields. Lucky and Bon threw up a protective barrier in a split second.
“What the hell? Already?” Jake yelped.
Lucky was notching Magic arrows onto his bow. When they hit their target, they exploded. Jake really wanted that. Bon was flinging protective spells around the soldiers. The Demons were slowed down, but they would soon find a way around it all. Lucky tried to create a bigger bombing arrow, but that was snapped in half by a dog headed man. Bon suddenly switched to offense. He swung his spear and used magic to extend its range. Anything that got within five feet of it seemed to be chopped in half. Jake displayed his skills against some of the lesser demons.
“Damn, that was my last one arrow…” Lucky muttered, as the monster before him exploded into a million pieces.
“Keep calm, Lucky… just keep calm!” Bon was anything but calm. He was running low on magic and his spear had been knocked out of his hands.
Lucky and Bon retreated to the eagles. They took off and their powerful wings knocked aside the Demons. Bon swooped towards Jake and the eagle’s talons enclosed around him, lifting him in the air. Jake climbed onto its back behind Bon.
“Never… do that… again…” Jake wheezed as the eagle did a death spiral down to the ground, slicing a Demon in half with its talons.
“Sure, sure. But never mind that. Look there!”
Jake glanced down towards the ground. Some of the demons had gotten past the defenses already. And they looked buff, even from two hundred feet off the ground.
“We can’t let them enter camp!”
“No duh, genius!” Bon called behind him, as his eagle swooped down once more, aiming it’s talons at a snake/man. Lucky was doing the same at an undead leopard corpse.
They eagles were locked into combat. Jake, Lucky, and Bon had to get off before they roll over and flatten them into pancakes.
The Demons swarmed them. Lucky and Bon had flung out a few more spells, and then announced that they had run out of juice. All they had to defend themselves against the attack was a bow, Jake’s Saber, and Bon’s stick he had broken from a tree.
“Are you serious? A stick? We’re so gunna die!” Lucky yelled at Bon.
“Thanks for your vote of confidence!” Bon said as he stabbed a lizard like Demon in the eye.
In the frenzy to get up the slope and to the camp, Jake, Bon, and Lucky all got separated. Bad news for them.
One of the Demons swung an ax at Jake’s head. He ducked and swung his saber at the Demon’s legs. It howled in pain and one of its paws slapped into Jake’s face, leaving long scratches from its claws. Jake swung again, this time it left a gash in its arm. Using its surprise, he dug the saber into its chest. The Demon collapsed.
Jake was sweating from that one battle. That scared him. If it was that easy to tire him, he wouldn’t have a chance against those monsters.
Before Jake could catch his breath, something slammed into him from behind. Jake collapsed face first into the blood stained ground. Jake’s sword spun out of his hand in the process.
Before he could react, a Demon pinned him and had a knife at his throat. The Demon was ready to strike, and Jake closed his eyes. Was this really the end for him?
At the last second, the Demon recoiled, his face etched with utter disgust. “You don’t smell of a full human. But I don’t smell of any full Demon. What are you?” His voice was snake like.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jake spat. This was hard considering that he had a heavy foot on his back, squishing his lungs.
The Demon didn’t have any time to reply because the tip of a sword suddenly emerged from his stomach. The monster fell over and landed next to him.
“Well that was close.” It was Markus, with his Kanata in his hands.
“Markus! What are you doing here?”
“I came to save your sorry ass as usual.” Markus said, “Get back to work! This is no time to be laying down on the job!”
Jake managed a small smile, but that soon disappeared. “Yes, Sir!”
Jake took another look at the Demon. What did he mean? He was absolutely sure he was a human. Right? Jake used his sleeve to wipe away most of the blood from his face. Markus was already out of sight. Jake reached for the saber and climbed up the slope. What he would see there would haunt him in nightmares from that point on.

Chapter 5: Assembled

Violet appeared again out of the shadows. This time she was at the black Judgment Gates. It was in the middle of a giant meteor crater and the gates had nothing behind it. Just a gate with inscriptions of death and torture etched onto the metal.
Her eyesight went fuzzy for a moment, then refocused. The distance she had covered was at least sixty miles. If not, more. The amount of energy required to travel through the shadows depended on how far her destination was. Violet regained her balance and approached the black iron gates.
“Keep away… the gates have not yet passed judgment on you…” A ghost appeared in front of the gates. He was a young boy, no older