Betrayal

Rain poured down the wall and over Serafinas' hand. Serafina was an
assassin and although this would be her first kill, a good one.
Deverlin had told her so and Deverlin was the best assassin Haldoor
Clan had had for as long as the old men could remember. She used to be
a dancer, now she killed - would kill. She had no doubts, she knew what
she had to do and would do it, efficiently and without
compassion.

Rain tricked over her wrist and down her arm, Serafina ignored it and
continued watching the tower. Light blazed out from the towers windows,
lighting up the old courtyard with an odd yellow light. The rain mixing
with the stark unwavering light creating strange deep shadows. An
overturned cart, its wheel broken and twisted, lay between Serafina and
the towers entrance. Through the open door a guard occasionally showed
itself. Heavily armoured and exhaling smoke from its breathing slits it
would be more than a match for Serafinas' dextrous attack skills in the
confines of the door way.
Serafina was not concerned, she had other ways of hitting her target.
She was patient, she had taken two days to get from the village to the
ruined barn she now lay hidden in. The rain had helped her, the Kally
were at their best when the weather allowed their magic's to work to
their maximum effect. Clan peoples magic was subtle compared with the
Kally. They could lay waste to a hillside, set fire to a forest or
smash buildings apart. Clan magic gave you food or hid you from your
enemy. Serafinas' cloak was clan magic, it had hidden her from the
Kally detection magic and allowed her to get to her current hiding
place.

She glanced up at the wall, the base of which she lay against. At one
time it had held a large door which, together with its twin, had been
used to seal the barn from the elements. Now only the rusting hinges
remained. Serafina stood up, making sure she was shielded by the door
frame, Deverlin had assured her that her cloak would hide her but there
was no sense in taking extra chances. She unsung the bag she carried
and unlaced it. Inside was Bow.
Bow was sleek and black. It was made from something other than wood.
The warriors claimed it was made from magical stone but Serafina
doubted it. Stone, even magical stone, would not bend like Bow could.
She ran her hand down its smooth surface and marvelled once again at
its unblemished perfection. The warriors bows were works of art, each
taking Turnkin (the Bower) weeks to make but they were nothing compared
to Bow. Offset from the centre, were her hand rested, was the Seeing
Stone Serafina would need if she used Bow at long range. With Bow, she
could shoot many time further than even Grelex and Grelex was a mighty
warrior.

Next she retrieved the arrows. Each arrow was light and silver. The
head flared slightly from the shaft then swept into a point. There was
no join. Grelex swore they were grown not made. Serafina concentrated
on her task. Bow was the Clans most precious relic but for now she
thought of it just as a tool. A tool that would rid the Clan of an
enemy, the likes of which they had never known before. The Arch-Demon
Vole.

A sudden noise from the towers entrance caught Serafinas attention. The
half hidden guard emerged from the doorway coughing in the cold night
air. Serafina studied him. Grey armour encased him, movable panels at
his joints allowing him to move with surprising ease. His head was
covered by a strange impractical looking helmet. The Raanee trader had
warned Haldor Clan about the helmets worn by demon warriors, they did
far more than simply protect it the trader had said. A demon with a
helmet, the trader had implied, would be able to see a member of the
Clan even when Belgos and Thintor were not in the sky. He would be able
to see the life within their bodies, the trader had told them. Serafina
stood as still as a stone, the warrior was looking straight at her. Her
cloak would protect her, hide her, she was sure it would. It did. The
warrior turned away and started making a strange noise at another
warrior who had also emerged. From their attitude and behaviour
Serafina guessed they were talking about some great strategic threat or
maybe their supper.

Then, as the first warrior moved to one side a whole troop came out of
the doorway. Serafina froze, she had been seen, she knew she should
run, escape with Bow so she could try again at a later time but she
could not move. Her limbs betraying her, leaving her to fail on this
her first mission. But then she realised that the Warriors were moving
out of the courtyard and off into the rain. All that remained was the
one guarding the doorway.

She waited a bit longer her courage and nerve returning as quickly as
they had deserted her. She glanced up and her breath caught in her
mouth. There, silhouetted against the towers lights stood her target,
the Arch-Demon Vole. The trader had told them that Vole had assumed
Human form but even so she was shocked at how Human he appeared. If it
had not been for his distinctive uniform she would not have been able
to recognise him. She had expected a demon, an Arch-Demon she corrected
herself, to look more Demonic. Vole had short hair, much shorter than
any warrior she had seen before and appeared to be about the same age
as Serafina. He looked, she thought, much like any of the men in the
Clan would if they had had their hair cropped so short. She reminded
herself this was not his true image, no doubt his true visage would
resemble the images she had seen in the Clans books.
Serafina had a job to do. In one fluid movement she lifted Bow, fitted
an arrow and sighted through the Seeing Stone. At once her view jumped
forward, Voles image suddenly becoming as large as if he was stood next
to her. He had strange eyes, blue in colour. Serafina had never seen
blue eyes before. He was talking to someone she could not see,
complaining about the slow progress of his armies she imagined. She
could tell the Kally had placed one of their clear windows across the
opening and made a mental note to allow for the deflection it would
create.
Serafina lined up the marks in the centre of the stone, as Deverlin had
shown her, allowing for the closeness of the target and the slight wind
which was blowing.
Someone else came into view, a woman. She had a similar uniform to Vole
and the same short light coloured hair. Serafina guessed she was also a
demon in human form, although she looked just as human as Vole. The
woman gestured out of the window pointing towards the barn. Vole was
nodding his agreement.

Serafina released the arrow.

********************************

The sergeant was moaning bitterly as Caul entered the lower room.
"Stupid, bloody place," he complained. "Been here six weeks and not had
a sniff of anything, cept that bloody wind."
"Ah, come on sarg," Hoover replied from his position guarding the door,
"its not that bad. Remember what happened on Relvan 6. On minute it was
as dead as a graveyard then the next..."
He stopped short as he noticed Caul.
"Evening, major," he said, warning his sergeant there was an officer in
the room. Sergeant Hail, stopped fastening his armour on and turned to
face his major.
"That's OK, sergeant," Caul said, "carry on."
Then as the sergeant resumed fitting his breat plate, "intel report
some activity in the area. Not sure what but someone's a bit
glittery."
"Intel," grunted the sergeant showing his opinion of the XX corps
Intelligence Gathering and Treat Assessment team (IGTA).
Caul smiled to show he agreed. "Best not to take any chances, watch out
for anything suspicious."
"Yes, sir", Harrison replied as he finished fastening the PlakArmor
round his legs. "Me and the boy's will be real careful."
The others in Harrison's squad nodded in solemn mock agreement.
Caul glanced around the room. The platoons equipment cargo carriers
stacked in the corners contrasted sharply with the rough stonework of
the building. At one time it had obviously been an impressive
structure. The remains of coloured plaster still clung to sections of
the west and east walls. The floor, under all the dirt, was inlayed
with an intricate pattern. Caul knew because he'd had it cleared when
the platoon arrived in order to check the stability of the building.
Some day an archaeologist would have a field day trying to figure out
what it had been originally used for. For now though it was the
headquarters of 3rd Platoon, 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment of 156th
Colonial AeroSpace Division and Major Caul Malinko was in charge.
By the half open door, half outside the building stood Private Hoover
one of Echo Squads troopers. He was supposed to be watching the
courtyard but most of his attention was directed into the building
watching Bravo Squad preparing to go on patrol. Caul let it ride, they
did have a full sensor array deployed and he doubted a fly could get
near the HQ without setting off a string of alarms.
Harrison was ready to go, "OK, Sir?" he queried.
Caul nodded, "Good luck, Sergeant."
"All clear, Hoover?" queried the Sergeant without bothering to look
up.
Hoover though did not answer straight away. He was looking at something
off to his left.
"Hoover?" repeated Harrison much quieter at the same time, signalling
his squad to be alert. Instantly Bravo Squad stopped talking and
readied their weapons. Harrison moved to stand next to Hoover so he too
could see whatever had alerted the guard. The small courtyard, however,
looked just the same. A low wall, all that was left of an obviously
larger defensive wall, merged with a ruined barn which was the object
of Hoover attention.
Hoover continued looking at whatever had caught his attention for a few
more seconds then said, "Its OK, I thought I saw something but I've
swept the area with IR and MD and its clean. Must have been the
rain."
"Are the sensors in the old barn working?" asked Harrison.
Malham, their Tech Specialist, quickly checked her readouts,
"Everything's fine," she replied.
"OK, lets go, " said Harrison signalling his point man to lead on.
"Though, it might be an idea to get Charlies boys to check that ruin
out, Sir," he added to his Major.
"Thank you Sergeant," replied Caul. "I'm sure Sergeant Charles will be
most gratified you suggested that task for his squad."
Hoover moved out of the way allowing Echo Squad to exit the HQ.
Caul watched them go. They spread out as soon as they had exited and
assumed a relaxed but efficient formation as they crossed the courtyard
disappearing into the rain as they passed what was left of the old
barn. Once they had gone he returned up the stairs to the Main Command
Room on the first floor of the tower.
Lieutenant Meyers was waiting for him.
"Anything wrong, Sir?"
"No," replied Caul, moving to the window, "just Hoover getting a bit
jumpy. He thought he'd seen movement in that old barn across the
way."
Meyers was one of the most competent Offices in the Division. She had
been top of her class and had shown herself extremely reliable under
fire. He knew Divisional Command had placed her and Sergeant Harrison
in his Platoon to give him a steady hand but he could not resent her
for it. Paula Meyers was one of those people who had everything. She
was very talented at anything she put her hand to, calm under fire, had
a friendly yet professional relationship with all her fellow officers
and was very very beautiful. And despite all his professional training
Caul knew he was attracted to her.
The Lieutenant came over to the window so she could also see the
barn.
"Maybe we should demolish it, if its starting..."
The window shattered. Meyers was flung back across the room with
tremendous force. Caul fell backwards, stone and glass showering him as
flames erupted around the room. The sound of the explosion hit him as a
physical blow, stunning him, leaving him defenceless. Then his training
took over rolling him over, keeping him moving.
A second blast punched a hole in the wall close to where he had laid a
second before. Chunks of razor sharp stone hit him again as dirt, smoke
and flames filled the room. Dazed and completely disorientation he
vaguely heard someone shouting for Meyers then realised it was himself.
He knew he should keep moving but had no idea how to do that.
A trooper appeared next to him, only half armoured. It was one of the
new recruits. Caul tried to tell him he was OK but the Private did not
seem to hear him.
"Got the Major," he yelled back down the stairs as he started dragging
Caul back to them. Another shape rushed past Caul into the room as
another trooper went to find Meyers. Now Caul could hear the sound of
gun fire and explosions from below.

Even as she let the arrow go Serafina knew she had missed. She had not
adjusted for the glass nor wind. The arrow hit destroying the window
spewing fire from the Tower but she was not certain it had hit the Arch
Demon. She quickly drew and fired another arrow at the wall where she
guess the Demon would have been hiding if it had not been hit by the
first arrow.
A blast smashed stone from the wall quite close to were she hid Then
lots more small blasts deafened her as stone and dirt exploded all
around. The Guard Warrior was using his weapon to fire in her
direction. He obviously could no see her but his random firing was
rapidly reducing the barn to rubble. His weapon, though crude, was
dealing out a great deal of damage, already the barn was filled with
flying debris.
Serafina knowing it would only be seconds before she was hit dived
backwards and leapt out of the window on the far side of the barn.
Behind her there was a load explosion and the barn roof collapsed. The
arrows! She had been in such a rush to get out she had forgot to pick
up the unused arrows. At least she had Bow but the loss of three unused
arrows would be a grievous loss to the Clan.
Outside the barn she spotted the patrol she had seen leave rushing back
towards her. Quickly pulling her cloak over her she rolled over into
the shallow gully which she had used to get to the barn and crawled
away.

Caul walked around the remains of the barn, inspecting the damage. His
head still throbbed and he limped from a leg wound. Still he had faired
much better than Lieutenant Meyers, she had been evacuated an hour ago
still unconscious. He doubted she'd be waking up soon.
"How'd this happen, Sergant?"
Sergeant Harrison looked up from the recorder he'd been using.
"Best we can tell, Sir. Looks as if someone got into the barn and used
some sort of projectile weapon. Probably armour piercing. We have a few
images of it traversing the courtyard."
"Yes, but how did they get into the barn in the first place?" queered
Caul. "I thought this place was locked down with sensors."
"Yes, Sir. Should have been. Can't explain it, Sir." Harrison looked as
uncomfortable as he sounded.
Caul looked out of the barn at his troopers deployed on high alert
around the Command Post. It looked as if Harrison's wish for action
would be fully filled.