[CHAPTER FIFTEEN]

"So many people have gone missing." Wally observed as he scrolled through the request documents.

"So that horrible smell was coming through the rift." Sloane commented as she settled into a chair.

"More travelers are coming, and the villagers that can fight have arranged to assist." Wally shifted closer to Sloane and whispered, "Are you going to be alright on the battlefield?"

"I'll be fine Wally." Sloane hoped her smile was reassuring. "Our training should prove helpful." Sloane slouched down in the chair, "I'm gonna get some sleep. Wake me when it's time to go."

"Well well," a hard nudge woke Sloane, "look who it is."

"The hero of Ft. Langton," another voice chimed in.

"But what's this I hear about you being blind?" The first voice mocked. "What happened to all your confidence and superiority?" 

"Superiority?" the second voice sneered, "we outrank her now."

"Serves her right," a third voice spoke up, "after tricking us into receiving punishment from the urgent quest."

Every traveler's bracer blared alarms in unison. Anxious shifting and shuffling, and a heavy silence.

"What is it?" Sloane leaned toward Wally.

"Get up, the rift has been located, it's time to form ranks." Wally helped her to stand up.

"That's good." Sloane let Wally help her to her feet, then whispered. "I don't want to reveal all my tricks yet, will you guide me?"

"Of course," Wally replied in an equally low voice, and tucked her hand into his elbow. "I've always got your back."

"You're coming?" that first voice sneered, "what are you supposed to contribute? You're blind!"

"More than you did back in Ft. Langton." Sloane snapped back, "Don't believe me? Just wait and see."

On the field of battle.

"Sloane," Tolman placed a hand on her shoulder, "stay in the rear with the healers and archers."

"Appropriate since I am both of those things." Sloane laughed to cover her anxiety.

"Shield wall!"

"Traveler's! In formation!"

Voices overlapped, various parties coming into formation around her, and then moving toward the rift. The smell pouring out of the rift was nauseating, acrid like burned metal, and the stench of rotten things. A strange piercing whine emanated from the rift. Creatures emerged, at first just a few, and then a flood.

"There are so many." Someone near Sloane murmured.

The clash was intense. The force of impacts around her shook her, the sounds of metal against bodies, claws tearing flesh. It was horrible. Sloane's healing ability allowed her to actually feel the wounds of her allies on the battlefield. With her electric field vision and the healer's sense she had an accurate grasp of the battlefield.

The front line broke, something was rushing, tearing its way to the rear lines. It moved so fast she couldn't track it except by the carnage in its wake. Something slammed her to the ground, teeth sinking into her shoulder. Claws and teeth with miasma of foul air writhing and pain. Instinctively Sloane released a high burst of electricity. That horrible creature released its hold, shrieking and writhing. It collapsed and disintegrated. Sloane rolled over and vomited, her head swam.

"Calibration complete," an automated voice from Sloane's bracer chirped.

"What?" Sloane looked at her bracer.

It was like a curtain lifting. Her vision was still dim but it was more like being in a dark room, rather than being in total darkness. Wally was by her side in a flash. He lifted her, taking her face in his hands he turned her toward him.

"Are you ok?" Wally shouted over the fighting.

"I'm ok," Sloane touched the already healing wounds on her shoulder, "and, I can see."

"That's great!" Wally shouted.

"Celebrate later." Sloane cut him off.

Thick clouds rolled on the horizon. Sloane smiled and a glint flashed in her eyes. She scanned the battlefield. The fighting was contained to the area just in front of the rift. Toward the center of this was a large pile of boulders. Sloane focused, her sight becoming clearer.

"Help me get to those boulders," Sloane shouted over the sounds of battle.

"What do you plan to do?" Wally asked, drawing both daggers and checking the path they would have to fight through.

"Start some fires," She smirked, "time to put our practice to work."

Wally's laugh held a wicked edge.

Sloane and Wally fought their way through the chaos. Sloane healed the allies she passed, Wally finished off the creatures from the rift the traveler's and villagers were fighting. Another creature broke through the front lines and tore across the field toward her. Sloane nocked an arrow and took aim at the charging creature.

<Target lock acquired.> A crosshair symbol appeared in her vision on the creature's face.

"Huh," Sloane mumbled, "that's new."

She released the arrow and the creature crumpled.

Sloane began targeting the creatures that had pushed through the front line and broke formations. One by one the creatures fell and the front line regained formation. Slowly the pair made it to the boulders. Sloane put her bow away and scrambled up the steep mound. Wally waited at the base, keeping anything from the rift from reaching Sloane as she climbed to the summit.

Sloane looked around, her vision was still foggy on the edges, but when she focused on a target it would come into sharp clarity and a crosshair would appear. The sky overhead rumbled, and black clouds blocked out the sun. Sloane could smell rain on the wind. The scent was almost hidden beneath the stench from the rift. The air felt heavy, and charged.

"Can you hear me?" Sloane tested the party chat function.

"I can," Wally confirmed solemnly, "ready to start some fires?"

"Ahead at three o'clock, the ugly one with the long gray mark on its shoulder."

"I see it," Wally replied and started moving.

"I'm going to strike it down, harness the fire before the corpse dissipates."

"Copy."

The target burst into flames, Wally harnessed those flames and used them to send a swath of fire toward the creatures pouring from the rift.

"Your five o'clock, twenty meters. It's moving toward Tolman."

"I'll make sure our friend gets back home."

Something stirred within the rift. A giant eye peered through the tear. A shudder of fear rippled through the battlefield.

"What-"

"Form up!" a familiar voice bellowed, "Do not falter now!"

Tolman raised his hammer over his head and roared. Villagers and travelers responded with war cries of their own.

The sky added its voice, crackling overhead as if agreeing and supporting the warriors below.