Planning on the Fly

"Noble!" Sarai pulled her friend back.

A Sentinel came plummeting from the sky and into the spot where Noble had just been.

But it was already dead.

Noble stared at it with a dazed expression before coming to her senses.

"Thank you, Nic." 

"Wasn't me." Nickel lifted the two blades which had manifested in his palms. Neither of them was bloody. 

The Queen's face paled. "Well if it wasn't you, and Sarai was busy getting me clear, then who–" 

Noble dodged as another humanoid bat came hurtling toward the earth. This one was alive, but not for long.

Sarai's spear finished manifesting just in time to pierce the creature through the abdomen. She flicked the nuisance aside. 

In the distance, other Sentinels began to drop their creature comrades over the city and then dive toward the palace. No matter how poisoned, the flesh of a Transcendent Demon was still irresistible. 

"We have to get out of here," Noble motioned them away from the palace.

She rushed toward the closest plaza. 

The abominations would die from the black foam, so there was no reason to fight them. It was better to defend the citizens until the Tyrant made himself known. 

In the corner of her consciousness, Noble could feel the same oppressive force that she had on the day of the hunt. 

The Lord of the Mountain was drawing near.

In answer to her thought, Lightning struck the ground in the distance. The source was far off, but Noble knew the flying Tyrant could travel at an otherworldly speed. 

Now that the sun was all but blocked out and the barrier was disabled, the ancient King would finally have the freedom to come and annihilate anyone who opposed him. 

'Or so he thinks.' 

Noble spotted Theo just as a shaft fired from the ballista. The mundane projectile wouldn't do much to protect against the Awakened creatures or above, but it cut through the wings of the descending horde before lodging in the hide of something bigger and splintering.

 The general ordered another bolt to be loaded while he nocked an arrow into his bow. The sudden motion out of the corner of his eye made him aim the bow at the Queen before dropping quickly to one knee.

"Your Majesty, forgive me!" 

Noble waved him off. "None of that just now General. Status?" 

Theo stood. "The troops are stationed around the city supported by anyone willing to wield a sword. We have abandoned the southern half of the kingdom. Are you sure--"

"I'm sure that was the right move. The ground to the south is unstable." Noble tried to move them forward quickly. Before she could, Theo stepped in front of her and raised his bow. 

"Identify yourself." 

He drew back his string. 

Sighing, Noble pushed up Theo's arm, and the oversized arrow pierced a rocklike abomination. It snarled with needle-like fangs but never got the chance to use them.

Sarai finished off the creature before it could hit the ground.

"That's just Nickel, my friend. You remember him," Noble told Theo. "Please don't skewer our allies…"

"Apologies," the General lowered his bow and his head. "I did not recognize you under the hood."

Nickel clicked his tongue and waved dismissively. "Not the first time someone has tried to kill me."

He spun around and shot one of his daggers forward. A moment later, another of the rocky beasts crumbled into a fine mist.

"And it won't be the last." Nickel dismissed and resummoned his dagger.

Noble rolled her eyes at the showy display and continued giving her orders to the General.

"Direct any Awakened you see to take on the more powerful creatures. I will be going after the Tyrant as soon as he comes." Noble felt Theo hesitate.

"I know that was the plan when you, Her Grace, and Counsel were working together," The soldier dipped his head at the former queen as he mentioned her," but with part of that trio missing, perhaps..."

"That is why Nickel is here. He will do even better than Counsel could," Noble motioned to the black-clad man.

Theo regarded the powerhouse with great interest and nodded at him. "You have nerves of steel. You'll need that to taunt the Tyrant."

Nickel nearly dropped the weapon still forming in his hand. "I'm sorry, what?"

Of course, the assassin had known that Counsel was going to capture the attention of the Tyrant, ideally by using the Heart as bait.

With recent revelations, that plan had probably always been a ploy by Ender to get his hands on the Heart for his own ends.

So how was Nickel supposed to fill the position of someone who had never intended to complete the task as planned?

The dwindling light wavered as more flying creatures joined the fray. These batlike monsters carried heavier cargo—and stronger abominations. Things were about to get much harder for the Awakened and nearly impossible for the mundane soldiers.

But Nickel kept his face calm. "I'll do my best," he assured the General.

Satisfied, Noble dipped her chin. "Keep up the good work, Theo. We will see each other soon!"

Dashing northward, the Queen motioned for the other two to follow.

How she wished Kosi were here to whisk them all away while they spoke privately!

'We'll just have to plan on the fly…'

Turing down a wide street, Sarai and Nickel caught up with their leader. The battle here was fiercer, probably because it was closer to the city wall where the civilians were hidden.

Working in tandem, the three expertly wielded their weapons. They became an indomitable wedge with Noble as the head.

The three spoke as they progressed.

"What is the play here, Noble?" Nickel plunged his daggers into the neck of a creature that looked similar to a two-legged sheep and pulled back quickly before the creature could close its gaping maw.

The head detached cleanly from the spine, sending a spray of fetid blood in all directions.

"For now, we kill as many of the minions as we can until the Tyrant arrives. The less ammunition he has to throw at us, the better." 

Deep down, Noble knew that the Tyrant probably had close to inexhaustible forces.

But until he made his grand appearance, they had to defend and preserve the human forces from total destruction.

"That's all well and good," Nickel observed Sarai and Noble tag team an Awakened Beast.

The former pushed aside the slashing claws with her estoc while the latter burned a hole through its middle with her spear. The creature collapsed in a charred heap.

"But what do you want to do when that thing gets here? We are running out of time!"

Nickel was almost right.

They had already run out of time. But not for the reason any of them thought.

An explosion in the sky seemed to rip open the heavens for a moment. At the same instant, lightning snaked toward the ground and simultaneously streaked toward the hole as if it could sew up the seam with electric thread. 

The world lit up with daylight, startling the abominations used to working in darkness.

Seeing their chance, the humans cut down as many of the Dormant and Awakened abominations as their weapons would reach.

All except Noble, who looked up at the sky. Her face paled.

"Clear the street, now!" She screamed.

For the hole was not made by a parting of the masses overhead.

It was made by a mass of creatures falling free from the horde.

Like a comet, they plummeted to the ground…

Aimed right for Noble's head.