Adventures in Summoning

Chapter 28

The four of us crouched behind the shrubs, watching the search light move back and forth over the shoreline. The inflatable boat was getting closer, perhaps only a hundred yards from the shore now, and they would be landing on our island in a matter of minutes.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked.

"Yes!" Quin said eagerly, wanting this to be over.

"As I'll ever be," Helen muttered.

Dee simply nodded while swallowing nervously.

"Alright, next time the light passes us, we go," I instructed. We all joined hands to get ready. Quin on my right, Helen on my left with Dee on the end.

The light was constantly moving, so it wasn't too long before the light swept back over where we were hiding. I think whoever was running the searchlight was becoming sloppy, they were moving the light faster, but in a more predictable pattern, presumably because there had been nothing to see at this point. As soon as the light had moved from the bushes that we were hiding behind, we stood and ran for the water. We hadn't even reached the shore before I had the water elementals drag the little motorboat down into the depths causing the engine to sputter and stop. The sudden loss of the motor noise brought the light back to where they had last been, and it hovered there momentarily.

Had the light been higher, the soldiers might have seen the growing wave, with all of us riding it. I don't think it would have helped them, but they never shined the light on us until the surge passed where the boat had been. At that point, the wave was over 60 feet tall, and to the point where I didn't want to go higher in case the radar could somehow see us. I urged the elementals faster, the light was wavering back and forth along the wave, but they hadn't yet brought it to the crest where we were all body surfing. At any moment, I was expecting a machine gun or rocket to come flying at us, but I had to keep pressing on.

The person controlling the light must have lost their nerve, and it pivoted straight up, as if they had just let go and ran. The wave crossed the channel between the islands in just a few minutes, and as we crested over them, I could see the camp that had been there. They had a pair of vehicles, one with missiles and one with a spinning radar dish, with several tents around a cook fire. There were three people running away from the wave, and as much as it pained me to do so, I had the elementals wash them right out to sea with the two vehicles.

The wave scoured the campsite, and the island was free of the enemy...

We passed over the island, and I let the wave go so that we all landed in the shallows on the far side of the island. The elementals dragged the vehicles several hundred yards offshore, but I had some of them bring back the tents and any boxes they could find. I was hoping for some supplies, or at a minimum some pants! We waded back ashore with the remains of the tents, an unopened crate and two backpacks. The camp that the enemy soldiers had used was completely gone, right down to the little pit that they had their fire in.

"Well done, Justin," Quin said gently.

I looked at her sadly. She was right, it was a successful attack, but the guilt over killing people wasn't helping, it just wasn't in my nature, and it was hard to get past. "I wish that they would just go away, or surrender. I don't want to keep killing them," I replied sadly.

Quin pulled me into an embrace and held me tight, thankfully not crushing me. "Until Talkorn attacked us, I had never killed anything except for food. Since then, I have tried to defend my world from his invaders, and that usually means killing those invaders. I hate it too. I'd rather live in peace, with you at my side, but they didn't give us that chance. They brought this on themselves with their greed. I know it is a hard adjustment for you to make, but it doesn't make you evil to defend the innocent. If they're not stopped, they'll wipe out or enslave this entire planet, and who knows how many more afterwards."