Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (55 page)

Alpha One had needed to re-sight the weapon after the suppressor had been installed, but now had its point of aim at all ranges carefully noted on the small reference sheet he carried. He had already made the adjustments to the scope for the four hundred and twenty-two yards he would be shooting this morning. Nominally sighted for three hundred yards, the additional distance would result in a drop of slightly over an additional eighteen inches and require a bullet flight time of slightly under a second.

The spotter half of the team watched the street in front of the building with binoculars which afforded him a wider field of view.

“
Target,” he whispered. He’d seen the carriage coming and had been able to identify the wizard before it came to a stop in front of the building. While several other officials were present and slowly making their way from the street to the building entrance, neither of the desired military leaders was among them.

Alpha One’s shooter had focused his attention to the spot where the carriage would stop and allow the passengers to exit the carriage. His spotter would let him know if the carriage deviated from the normal procedure. As he waited, the carriage came into view. It took only the smallest of motions to move the sight onto the passengers. His lips moved in an almost imperceptible smile. They were in luck. One of the military commanders was riding with the wizard this morning.

The carriage had come to a complete stop, and the wizard had stood and was stepping out onto the street. He was moving slowly and as his foot stretched from the step of the carriage for the solid ground, he appeared to stumble. As he fell to the ground there was no initial panic. Without any sound to give away the shot that had driven the bullet from across the street, there was nothing to warn the crowd that the man had been killed. The driver was concerned that the man must have stumbled, and turned to hurry to his aid. He had taken only a couple of steps when someone noted the blood flowing out from under the dead wizard and cried out a warning. It was too late for the commander. He had barely started to move at the shouted warning when a second bullet made the brief transit of the open street and smashed into his chest. He was slammed back into his seat, with a bit more dramatic show of blood erupting from his exploded chest.

“
Twenty yards further out at 355 degrees,” the spotter said unruffled by the two shots that his partner had fired. The man that had appeared at the door of the building was clearly a senior wizard of some kind. They had time for another shot, and why leave one of the bastards alive if they didn’t have to.

The shooter reacted unconsciously to the instructions, picking up the new target with little effort. At these distances that additional twenty yards would result in a further six inches of drop, he reminded himself. For this shot he’d have to compensate manually. There was no time to adjust the scope. He’d already chambered the next round, and settled back into his hold, waiting until he was steady, and then slowly let his finger finish the shot. The sharp snap that the rifle made was loud enough here, but wouldn’t be heard fifty yards away let alone across the street. When he pulled his eyes from the scope, his spotter confirmed what he already knew. Three targets down. It was time to go.

Quickly they slipped back away from the edge of the building and staying low made their way inside and down the back stairs. There hadn’t been time for anyone to rush from across the street to this building, even if they’d figured out that was where the shots were coming from, which was highly unlikely. Minutes later they exited the back of the building and made their way down the street, heading back to the portal. This was the time of greatest danger. They couldn’t hide their gear, and had to rely on getting back to their portal quickly before an encounter could occur.

They had almost made it back to the portal, when they were spotted. A shout from behind warned them that they needed to hurry. Starting to run, they covered the remaining distance to the next corner and made the turn. The portal was tucked back alongside a building just ahead. Alpha One hurried inside and moments later exited in the portal room in Cobalo, shouting out “Alpha One” to key the operator which portal to close. In Yermo, the guards that made the turn shortly after them spent the next fifteen minutes trying to understand where they might have gone.

Outside the command center in Belth, Bravo Two’s encounter had gone even more smoothly. They had waited until the senior military officer had arrived and, while he was making his way into the building that he’d just taken command of the previous week, he and three of his senior aides were taken down before anyone could figure out what was happening. Bravo Two made a quick egress, and appeared in the portal control room a few minutes after Alpha One had left for their next target.

Alpha Two and Bravo Two, along with several of Kavel’s insurgency teams, were in Davo where Ale’ald had a major distribution center for men and material coming in from Trailways. There was also a junction for the telegraph system that Ale’ald had pirated when they’d taken the country. Their intent was to take out the distribution center and bring down the telegraph lines. The downed lines wouldn’t last, but they would cause confusion back in Ale’ald when communication was lost in the middle of the multiple strikes that were being made today. Alpha Two and Bravo Two would provide cover for the insurgency team, who would have to move through the open areas of the distribution center and were likely to encounter opposition before they were done.

Meanwhile, Alpha One was back inside Belar, where the planes had been destroyed the previous week. Samm had thought it would make a point if they repeated a hit inside the city, which had been locked down tight since the previous attack. The desire was also motivated by their learning Cheurt had sent a team to Yermo to investigate the previous attack, fearing that someone inside Belar must have been involved. If they could take down some of those men, it would create additional concerns for the wizard.

Bravo One had made a second jump as well, and was now in the woods over-looking the main camp of the enemy forces on this side of the river just across from one of the two new bridges that were being used to support their activities in Seret. Men were on the move as they responded to the attacks that had started a few hours earlier in Seret. The command tent was exactly where their spies had told them it would be, and they waited for a shot at their target to present itself. The army had put a great deal of effort into preparations for attack from Seret, but had done little to protect their rear. After all, they owned Kimlelm. It had been a slow crawl from the rocks at the far hill, but not a particularly worrisome one. No one had been watching in that direction. They’d only take the one shot here, and then fade silently away. The man they were after was a particularly skilled leader, and hence the special attention he was being given.

Throughout the day, six Alpha and Bravo sniper teams moved from location to location, taking out targets that had been carefully considered during the previous week. Shots were taken in the port cities of Wint and Einau, and as far away as Perta. Kavel would have liked to have taken even one symbolic target somewhere inside Ale’ald itself, but they simply hadn’t the intelligence to make the attempt. It would be stupid to risk a team just for the psychological effect such a hit would have made. As it was, they made thirty-three successful hits that day that were spread across the whole of conquered Kimlelm and which would certainly give Ale’ald something to think about.

* * * *

While the six sniper teams had been taking targets around Kimlelm, the remaining six had been assigned to the army to support the planned attacks against the forces occupying Seret. The combined military forces of Angon and Seret had launched an all out attack on the invading army along the Lasayss River. The attacks hadn’t come as a surprise, and the battles were understandably fierce. The forces of Angon and Seret were incensed by the deaths of comrades and family resulting from the frequent use of the gas the past weeks, and the forces of Ale’ald knew that they could expect no quarter from the attacking army. They also knew that Ale’ald was not particularly sympathetic to defeat.

The snipers were able to inflict losses on the enemy even before the two armies met. They took shots at distances that would have been considered impossible the previous year. The mere realization that they were on the field of battle made a significant difference. Enemy wizards could no longer operate with impunity at the kinds of distances necessary to inflict serious damage with their magic. Forced to stay well back to avoid becoming targets, their efforts were far less effective than Ale’ald was used to. Even at these ranges, several were taken by snipers that were now used to extreme range targeting.

In addition to the snipers, the sheer number of mages that Wylan had insisted in fielding allowed for shields against the majority of attacks the bravest of the Ale’ald wizards managed to attempt. As a result, the battle for the most part was army against army, although rather than the swords and bows they would have used a few short years ago, the men now used rifles. Because magic was far less of a factor, and Seret had far more men on the field, Ale’ald suffered severe losses. By the end of the day they still held the river, but another day or two like this one and they would be forced back across into Kimlelm, the gains of the last month lost.

Another morning packed with meetings, reviews, presentations and planning sessions. Honestly, sometimes Sayusta wondered why she’d ever wanted to be Queen. It wasn’t anywhere near as exciting as it had looked when she’d watched her father ruling the country, making decisions that decided the course of Angon, and deciding the laws by which they would live. He’d been regal and respected, and made the task of running the country look simple. Her own involvement during those days had been exciting as well, filled with a sense of purpose and power. In those days she hadn’t been required to be at every meeting, choosing those that held interest for her, and leaving when matters became tedious. She no longer had such options.

Of course, they hadn’t been at war then. Now Angon was in the middle of a struggle that would decide whether it would even survive. For a while it had appeared that they would soon be losing their only remaining ally, Seret, but in the past two weeks matters had taken a turn for the better. For the first time in many weeks Wylan had been upbeat the previous morning during their daily briefing. The smothering aircraft had been cleared from the skies, and the surgical attacks that Kavel had pressed for had gone smoothly, hitting Ale’ald behind their lines and taking out some of their key people. With the initial attacks so successful, permission to continue the covert attacks had been sought and granted. Wylan was pressing his advantage, and continued the frontal attacks on the Ale’ald forces still in mid Seret. Teams were working with the people of Kimlelm, showing them ways to resist and create trouble for the occupying forces. Plans were being made to retake Belth, but that would have to wait until the central area was cleared. Wylan didn’t want major battles on two fronts if he could help it, at least not until the Angon forces that were on the way arrived.

She knew the decision to go to war had been the right one. Giving in to Ale’ald’s not so subtle warning to stay out of the fighting would have been disastrous in the long run, although she hadn’t realized it at first. The dangers had been clear to her as soon as the news of the flying vehicles was received. She realized then that allowing Ale’ald to have its way would simply make it easier for them to win the rest of the Settled Lands and then allow them to focus on their strongest opponent. She wasn’t foolish enough to think Ale’ald would be satisfied if the only other gathering of those with skills in magic still existed free of their influence.

It was still uncertain that Angon could win this war. The outsider Jolan had done much, more even than he’d initially promised, but his warnings of weapons and machines that the enemy was bringing from Earth had been correct. With that source of trouble seemingly now blocked, she hoped they’d seen the end of the troublesome technology from that other world. If so, perhaps they still had a chance.

Cost was something she’d always worried about, and was appalled at the cost of the war. The treasury had already expended its reserves, and was now operating on credit. It didn’t take an expert to see that the anticipated revenues for the next year would not make up the shortfall. That meant more meetings, this time with the noble families. She would have to raise the tariffs on their profits, something that was never popular. It couldn’t be helped, and if most of them were honest, they’d have to admit to making vast fortunes on the war. Who was supplying the goods that the crown’s coin was going to pay for after all? They could afford to make a bit less profit. Besides, if Angon fell, their money wasn’t going to save them.

Even the additional taxes would probably not be sufficient. She was going to need to borrow from the richer families. The loans that would be required to balance the budget would take years to repay. The debt would give some of the families certain leverage over her for the foreseeable future, but it couldn’t be helped. She might be able to do better if they could be made party to some of the secrets she held. However it had been made very clear to her that the secrets could not be leaked to even the most trusted of the noble families. Too many people already knew about the miracles that had been discovered in the past year, and Angon’s success in the war might very well depend on keeping the matters concealed.

The Council had been brought into the circle of those who knew many of the discoveries. It had taken a lot of discussion among the parties, but they were the ruling body under her, and it wasn’t proper to keep the information from them, despite how desirable that course may have seemed. So far, it had worked in their favor, the Council granting unified support greater than anything she could recall in many years.