"So you're just doing this to save your own skin?" Cali asked.

  "It's what I'll tell the ones who won't listen to anything else," Arthur said with a wink. "But Sean has agreed to help us when we need it, and he's followed through on that promise. Therefore it's only right that we help him when he asks. Plus, maintaining the silence is something that protects all of us, magic users and lycans alike."

  Dean stepped back into the room. "They're on their way, Boss. Should be here in the next twenty minutes."

  Cali texted Sean again, then looked up a moment later.

  "Sean says we should wait here, he'll come pick us all up."

  "James, could you get us some tea and a snack perhaps?" Arthur said then turned back to Jolene and Cali. "We might as well be comfortable while we wait."

  Twenty minutes later, there were nine other magic users in the room, none of whom seemed to be at all offended by Jolene or Cali's presence. Jolene knew most of them, some of them quite well. Two of them actually blushed when they looked at her.

  "Boss!" Frank said, coming in. "A helicopter just landed on the front lawn! A big one!"

  "That would be Sean," Cali said, grinning.

  "Well at least he kept it quiet and didn't disturb the neighbors," Arthur said, smiling. "Let's go, everyone!"

  Arthur led the way outside and had to smile, there really was a big helicopter on the front lawn, its rotors turning as the pilot, a young woman, waited for them. Someone had painted the head of a lion on the nose.

  "Duck your heads!" Jolene called out and everyone bent over and ran for the large open door on the side.

  "Thanks for coming, Arthur!" Sean said as he helped him up into the back of the Huey.

  "Why a helicopter?" Arthur asked as Sean helped the others inside.

  "Because there aren't any roads where we're going!" Sean grinned.

  "We're not heading to your house, then?"

  "I'd rather fight my battles on someone else's property," Sean admitted as he helped Jolene and Cali up, then closed the door behind them. Jolene took the copilot's seat as Sean signaled for them to take off.

  Jolene was surprised to see that it was Terri in the pilot's seat. Spying a headset, she quickly put it on.

  "Terri, what are you doing here?" Jolene asked over the intercom.

  "Claudia only has three pilots right now, so they asked if I'd help."

  "You can fly these things?"

  Terri snorted. "Kind of hard to sell them if you can't! Max had already told Claudia that I knew about everything, so she called me. Told me they were desperate, and I could name my own price."

  "You're crazy, you know that?"

  "This from the gal who married the gamer nerd!" Terri grinned as she lifted the helicopter up into the sky.

  "You married one too!" Jolene retorted.

  "We've already established I was crazy! What's your excuse?"

  "So how much is Claudia paying you for this?"

  "Bi-monthly spa visits for a year!" Terri said happily. "At her number one spa!"

  Jolene blinked. "Claudia owns a spa?"

  "Yup! One of the best ones in Reno, too! You and the girls should come with me next time! You'll love it."

  "You drive a hard bargain, girl!" Jolene said, shaking her head. Spa trips were most definitely not cheap.

  "Don't I know it!" Terri turned her head towards the back of the helicopter where the others were getting settled. "Better hold on tight back there! We got some chop going over the mountains, and if you puke in my helicopter, you will clean it up! Understand?"

  "Brutal!" Jolene laughed over the intercom.

  "I ain't cleaning it up. Bad enough I have to do it at work!" Terri laughed.

  The sun had finished setting by the time they made it to the site of the ambush. Sean had Terri land on the south-side hilltop first, where he dropped off half of the mages, along with Cali, who had geared up in the helicopter, and was now carrying an incredibly nasty looking sniper rifle Jolene gathered Sawyer had sold her.

  Apparently being a dark elf meant the goblins gave you the special deals. Jolene had yet to see Sawyer harass, tease, or say a bad word about Cali. The very concept that there were people out there the old obnoxious goblin respected was something Jolene was having trouble accepting.

  Terri then flew them over to the other side of the pass, and everyone else got off there.

  "Well, off to get another load! Have fun!" Terri said as Jolene took off the headset and climbed down out of the helicopter.

  "Now what?" Jolene asked Sean after Terri had flown off.

  "Now we spend the next four or five hours digging in and getting ready. This is going to be nasty."

  "Just how nasty?" Arthur asked Sean.

  "We're going to kill all of their leaders, then we're going to kill a few more of them and make the rest walk home. All the way home."

  "Are you sure you want to do that, Sean?"

  Sean nodded. "It's that or I kill all of them, Arthur. This is a war now, it's my hope we can demoralize the survivors so badly they'll never do this again, and the others will look at what happened and decide not to go this same route."

  Arthur thought about that a moment, then gave a small nod of his head. "I fear you may be right, Sean. At least it looks like you picked a good place to do this. What do the rest of the lions have to say?"

  "This," Sean waved towards the highway below, where the number of cars going by was starting to thin out as it got late, "will be what we have to say."

  In Death Ground

  Kurt was unhappy. He had wanted to be at the front of the column, leading it. But Tobias had asked for that honor, and Harris had granted it, then taken Kurt aside before the convoy up to Reno had left.

  "Kurt, I've been giving this some thought, and I don't want our people leading the charge!" Harris had warned him in a hushed voice. "Everyone knows this is your plan, so don't worry about getting the credit. But I want you to start thinking of the aftermath. I don't want our people weakened so much they end up getting picked off by either the Vestibulum or the Gradatim, should they decide to turn on us after the fighting is done."

  Kurt had reluctantly agreed; Harris did have a point. So the Vestibulum contingent was now leading the column, with Kurt and the Ascendance following them, and the Gradatim bringing up the rear. Kurt had already told everyone with him, in private, that they'd be returning by way of highway fifty. That way, if either of the other two groups did decide to turn on them, the Ascendants wouldn't be there, so they'd just be left with each other to fight.

  Kurt shook his head and berated himself for looking a gift horse in the mouth. The original plan had called for them to withdraw as soon as it looked like they would take causalities. But Tobias had the Vestibulum's young men, and even more than a few of their older members, all whipped up to charge in there and 'do or die'. Even a number of the more staid members of the Ascendance seemed to have caught that fever, as well as many of the Gradatim. There were now five hundred and twenty-three magic users in the convoy!

  Every man eighteen and over from the Vestibulum was there; Tobias had called them all out. Most of the men from Gradatim had come as well, over two hundred of their best, including their leader. The Ascendance had also put in a good showing, with one hundred and twenty-five of their men showing. Kurt wished he could have gotten in touch with Stewart; he was sure his son was going to be quite unhappy when he heard about what he'd missed. But Kurt had seen the letter from Gus Hampton sitting on his son's desk in his bedroom, noticed all of his son's most expensive toys were missing from the room, and there were packed bags sitting on his bed.

  Kurt could only figure that his son was trying to raise the money without having to ask his father, who he was still obviously mad at. Kurt had to admit his youngest was finally starting to show some backbone.

  "Why are we slowing down?" Kurt asked as he saw brake lights on the car up ahead. Their convoy had over a hundred cars in it, so it had had to proceed a lot slower than Kurt liked, and they were starting to fall behind schedule.

  "There's an accident up ahead I think!" One of the younger men was leaning out the window in the back seat.

  "Oh yeah! Damn, that looks like a flipped over truck!"

  Tobias was happy. This was possibly the happiest day of his life. He was leading five hundred men into battle! A battle that would wipe all memory of the indignity that had been performed on him in his very own council compound! Tobias almost had to pinch himself to see if he was dreaming. He'd never been one for the thought of battles or combat. True, he hadn't gotten to where he was today by being a pushover, he'd fought his fair share of mage duels and had willingly engaged in the often-cutthroat politics that even the Vestibulum still engaged in.

  And suddenly he was the one at the front of the army. And not just any army! Oh no, for the first time in who knew how many centuries, Tobias was leading an army of magic users from three different councils! When this was over, everyone would know his name, everyone! He was about to gain the one thing he'd never in his life given a damn about: Fame.

  "Why are we stopping?" Tobias asked from the back seat of the Range Rover as Bill, the driver, suddenly hit the brakes hard.

  "There's an accident up ahead, looks like a truck's turned over! Dammit, somebody needs to tell them to put out some flares!"

  "Is there a way around? We can't sit here waiting for a tow truck!" Tobias grumbled.

  "I don't think so."

  "Damn, I better get out and take a look. If we have to, we'll blast it off the road ourselves!"

  Tobias opened the door, and that was the last thing he ever knew.

  "Trigger the claymores," Chad said without taking his eyes from the binoculars. As both he and Sean watched, the front three cars were suddenly blown off the road as twelve claymores went off together, shredding the vehicles and everyone inside them.

  "Fire the rockets," Chad ordered next, and as he watched, a dozen RPGs snaked out across the darkness to hit the last six cars in the convoy, denying the rest of the cars any real chance at turning around and fleeing. As they'd had no idea how far back the tail end of the convoy would be, they'd had to rely on rockets instead of using more mines.

  "They're starting to panic," Sean observed as half the cars started to turn around on the highway, many of them hitting each other in their haste, "but they're not getting out of their cars."

  Chad nodded. "They think they're safe there. First team, one volley at the tires; Ryan, tell the snipers to start picking off the drivers at random."

  Sean watched as a number of cars suddenly had a tire shot out, then driver's windows shattered at different spots up and down the line of cars, causing even more accidents. The doors on all the cars started to fly open then, and several men screamed instructions to the others as they dove out onto the roadway, looking for cover.

  "All fire teams, open fire," Chad called over his radio. "Snipers, look for those in charge, give them a few minutes to establish themselves, then start picking them off."

  At the top of the hill, Roberta, Jolene, Peg, Sarah, Louise, Philo, and a very surprised-looking Stewart, who'd been drafted by his mother because they needed seven to make it work, formed a circle and started to raise a magical shield that would divert many of the more offensive spells that were about to be cast their way.

  Stewart almost felt guilty. Almost. Both Rachel and April had whispered in his ear that they would most certainly reward him if he protected them from the bad men coming to rape and kill them.

  And Stewart knew for certain, that was exactly what the people down there were going to do. Well, Stewart had had enough of killing people, of killing anyone. All they wanted him to do was raise a shield to help protect those who were only defending that which was theirs: their freedom, and their lives.

  And Stewart was alright with that. Even without the whispered rewards Rachel and April had promised him. Being sorry just wasn't enough for him anymore. No, it was time for him to take a stand for what was right. Not that he was going to tell the girls that, of course!

  Kurt swore as the cars at the front of the convoy all exploded at once.

  "It's a trap! Get us out of here!"

  Jack, who was driving, put the car in reverse and, looking over his shoulder, he tried to back up, but instead hit the car behind him that was trying to pull forward. Spinning the wheel hard to the left, he started to go forward, trying for a u-turn on the two lanes.

  "Hurry up, you fool!" Kurt yelled, then he felt the side of his face covered with something wet, and turning back to look at Jack, he noticed the whole right side of his head and been blown off.

  "Out of the car!" Kurt yelled and, opening the door, he released his seatbelt and dove for the ground, the others in the car doing the same, as the hillside suddenly lit up with the flashes of gunfire and bullets rained down all around them.

  Kurt immediately crawled towards the Jersey barricade that split the highway, taking cover against the thick reinforced concrete, yelling for the others to do the same. Ted, one of the young men who had been in the backseat, pulled out a wand and stood up to use it, but was riddled with bullets almost immediately and fell back, dead.

  "Stay in cover, you idiots!" Kurt yelled, motioning for everyone to get their heads down and keep them down.

  "Johnson! Grimes! Harding!" Kurt yelled. "Get over here! We need to figure a way out of this!"

  The other three council members immediately worked their way over to Kurt, crawling across the ground on their hands and knees.

  "You four," Kurt said and pointed to the four young men nearest him on his left. "Point your wands over the top and trigger them. Keep doing that until they're empty, then grab another one and do the same."

  "But we can't see anything!" William, Grimes' son, whose face had gone ash white, yelled back.

  "Do you want to be like Ted?" Kurt pointed to the dead body of their friend. "Just do what I tell you!"

  All four of them gulped and nodded, then started to blindly lob shots over the barricade.

  "Kurt," Johnson said, "what do we do?"

  "Okay, we need to organize a diversion. There's a river at the bottom of the pass here. Once we make it to the edge of the roadway, there's a steep drop-off. That'll put us back in cover. When we get to the bottom, we head east, got that?"

  "What? East? Why not west? Why not back home?"

  "'Cause they'll be expecting us to retreat! They'll have it covered. Plus that'll put us in the shadow of whatever is happening to Tobias' people; we'll use them for cover."

  "How do we create a diversion?" Grimes asked, looking around at the dead bodies and the shot-up cars.

  "We have every other man fire off their wands and any other magic items they've got. While they're doing that, the other men run for the edge, drop into cover, then they fire their wands while the other group retreats."

  "But most of our wands are still in the cars!" Harding said, motioning towards the cars only a few yards away.

  "Then cast regular spells, dammit! If we don't get out of there now, we're all gonna die here! Now move!"

  "I'm bored," Cali whispered to Roxy. They'd set up on the south side of the pass, on a nice brush-covered ledge they'd found, about ten feet away from each other. "I wanna kill something."

  Roxy grinned as she sighted down on the now stopped convoy. "You and me both, Hon. You and me both. But I'd rather not piss off Sean by shooting before we're told."

  Cali sighed. "Yeah, me neither."

  "So, how do you want to keep score?"

  Cali looked over at Roxy, who was grinning back at her.

  "Keep score?"

  Roxy gave a small nod. "I was thinking, five points for a head shot, three for a groin shot, two for blowing off a limb, and one for a center of mass kill shot."

  Cali grinned back, all predator, and for the first time ever, Roxy wished dark elves could be infected. Cali would make one hell of a cat.

  The claymores went off then, followed shortly by the rocket attack on the back of the line of cars. A moment later, the order went out to start shooting drivers.

  "Dammit," Cali pouted, "we're on the wrong side!"

  "Maybe not, some of them are turning around," Roxy said, and sighting on a fancy Mercedes, the driver actually managed to get it most of the way around before Roxy sent a bullet through the open window and killed him.

  "Five points!" Roxy said.

  Cali spied a car that had turned off the road, facing almost directly at her, and nailed the driver through the windshield. The driver must have hit the gas pedal as he died, because the car suddenly lurched forward and went flying over the side to crash beside the river below.

  "Five points!" Cali laughed.

  "Damn, I think you earned an extra three for the others in the car with him!" Roxy laughed as well, and then they heard the order to the troops to fire and for the snipers to start looking for the leaders.

  "Aww, there goes our fun," Cali grumbled.

  "Scan the expensive cars first," Roxy told her, "the leaders like their comfort."

  "Okay!"

  "Roxy," Cali said after the magic users had finally gotten into cover. "See those guys by that white Range Rover?"

  Roxy slid her aim up the line and saw it. Four older men, talking and gesturing.

  "Girl, you have a winner. I'll start on the left."

  "Okay, on three!"

  "One, two," Cali fired before she got to three, and Roxy swore and picked the man off in her sights as the head of the man on the right vaporized. Cali hit the second one then, and the man Roxy was now aiming at jumped as he noticed the heads of his friends exploding, causing Roxy to have to take a second shot. She saw the surprised look on his face just before his head exploded.

  "Cheater!" Roxy growled.

  "Sorry!" Cali laughed. "But I wanna win!"

  Roxy shook her head and shifted her own aim back towards the end of the line of cars as Cali shifted hers towards the front. Anyone who looked like they were telling the others what to do got a head shot.