Shared Mercy Book 5 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 1.1 The Heat of the Battle

Cale was up for dawn prayers so he was first to see the portal. His call easily awoke his brothers in the Carrollton apartment but Rile had to shake Alex awake as usual.

They geared up fully and walked through the portal onto a plateau, with a battle in full pitch on the plain below. The arid landscape of scrub brush spread out to the base of a mountain range and the bipedal figures below were too small to see what species they were.

Despite the brightness of the day and the wide expanse of the mountain range in the distance, the air was thick with haze. Their feet crunched over the top of the scrub brush. The brush was brittle and dry, very little moisture would have remained on the landscape for so long.

Several black portals hung low in the sky. The air smelled of hard travel, dust and decay, the smell of death.

"You said the Portal Guardian doesn't drop you in the middle of a war," Alex complained to Rile, who was busy shedding non-essentials.

"You can't complain you don't know which side to pick," he replied.

The black toad monsters swarmed over the rocks below, streaming from the black portals. Their skins were the color of oil, their eyes yellow balls that swiveled from side to side as they looked for prey. The black toad monsters stank of sulfur, like a volcano gone rancid.

Rile drew his sword and looked at Gabe, who had also dropped his backpack and non-battle gear. Alex had taken the time to stash her pillow and trail mix, so she scrambled to catch up.

"Alex, close the portals with Rile and Cale, while I study the battle. Try not to use your powers. I want you at full charge for best strategic deployment," Gabe said, in full military commander mode.

  Alex held out her hands. Rile and Cale each took one and held their swords in the other. She flew off toward the ring of dark portals disgorging monsters.

They touched their swords to each portal and flames from the portals flowed downward through the blades, making them glow with the power. But the brothers were unimpressed, straining to see below, to figure out where they were, who was fighting below.

Cale, the farthest-sighted, pointed to a cloud of dust amongst the scrub. "All the portals are closed. Alex, drop us over there. That looks like civilians trying to retreat. We'll cover them while you fly back to Gabe and tell him what we're doing. He'll give us further orders."

   She swooped down but dropped them in shock when she saw who was covering the escape of the civilians: Ture. Rile and Cale still landed on their feet, their wings opened wide to slow their fall, and once on the ground, began swinging their swords in powerful arcs.

The black toad monsters skittered across the rocky plain, toad legs skittering across the sun-scorched rock. Their heads too big for their bodies, wider than their narrow maws, lips stretched in a bloodthirsty grin. Their eyes were the size of baseballs, slits of venomous yellow with a dollop of white, set on the sides of their heads.

They crawled in a loose circle around Rile, Cale and the others, leaving a trail of slime with the aroma of decay, and rotted flesh.

The group slowly backed out of the circle, keeping their weapons ready. As an apology, Alex blasted the frontline of monsters and landed beside them.

Ture's sword never stopped as he spoke to them. "I was hoping you would come back. The priest and his flock have been praying hard about it." 

"Alex, please take Ture to Gabe. He can tell him the information he needs," Cale said.

Ture held up a hand. "Wait, there's a safe haven carved into Little Egg Mountain that's fully stocked. Can you cover the retreat of the females and children there?" Ture nodded over his shoulder at the mountain.