Baleful Betrayal by John Corwin

Author:John Corwin [Corwin, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BluA
Published: 2016-05-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

The room fell silent, mental gears churning as everyone looked for a weakness in Cephus's defense.

"An elemental could tunnel beneath the fortress," Kassallandra said. "We could destroy the generators below while other forces attack those above."

"The barrier extends underground," Flava said. She drew an egg-shaped oval around the holographic image.

"Damn, I was gonna suggest trolls," Shelton said. "They can dig through anything."

"Perhaps we could cut off their food supply," Thomas said. "I don't like the idea of a siege, but it might be our best alternative."

"The Ministry has greenhouses where they grow food." Flava flipped to an overhead view of the complex and circled a pyramid-shaped building. "We also believe they stockpiled for years in preparation for Cephus's plan to overthrow the government."

"I'm getting real tired of hearing what we can't do," Shelton said. "What can we do that'll be super-effective?"

"There's an old trick we used back in the first war," my father said, a sly grin tugging at his lips. "When the Brightlings used dome shields to protect their troops, we'd let loose a few rats inside."

His comment raised eyebrows around the room, except for Mom's. The amused look on her face told me she knew what he was talking about.

"Are you suggesting we blow a hole in the shield and infest the Ministry with rats?" McCloud said.

"Something bigger," Dad said. "Demons."

"It was a clever ploy," Kassallandra said. "Unfortunately, once the enemy caught on, they were able to counter it."

"The Ministry is also a lot bigger than the shields we dealt with," Mom said. "But with enough Daemos, it could work."

"Please clarify," Thomas said.

"Demonic infestation," Dad said. "We can summon crawlers, scorps, and all sorts of nasty buggers inside the barrier as long as we have line of sight vision to the target area."

"Just like the way Justin snagged the Chalon through a shield." Shelton whooped. "I can't wait to see how Cephus's buddies react when a crawler is chasing them down."

"Can you direct the demons to attack the aether wells?" Elyssa asked.

"That wouldn't be the most efficient use," Dad said. "We'll want to summon as many hard hitters as we can and cut them loose to wreak havoc, not micro-manage them. Just a few crawlers are hard to control."

The image of Cephus's people being ripped apart, souls sucked from their bodies by crawlers sent shivers up my spine. Unfortunately, it seemed the best way to attack the problem. "Can we possibly unleash enough Hell in Heaven to drive Cephus out of the dome?"

"Only a few of us can pull through the really nasty demons," Dad said. "Everyone else can concentrate on hellhounds. I figure we could really shake them up. If we're lucky, someone in control of the shield might panic and open it to escape the mayhem."

Elyssa stopped drawing lines on the hologram and shook her head. "We shouldn't count on that. Instead, we treat this as a diversion while our Seraphim cut a hole through the barrier."

"Yeah, but once our people are inside, the crawlers and scorps are gonna eat them alive," Shelton said.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.