Larry Correia - Spellbound

They landed near the Washington Monument. It was scored with several deep claw marks. A biplane had crashed on its side nearby. The area was in complete pandemonium. There were hundreds of people present, some running away, some stumbling about injured, others trying to help. Fires were burning everywhere. The demon was busy tearing apart the big museum on the north side of the lawn while it ignored the flock of biplanes that were taking turns swooping down to shoot at it. The monster had to be a hundred feet tall now.

“Still want to do this?” she asked Heinrich.

“I do. But before you put me on that thing, I just want to say again that I am very sorry for that time that I shot you in the heart.”

“Oh, Heinrich. Don’t go talking like that!”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re saying goodbyes.”

“Why would I do that?” This smile was a sad one. “Of course I’m not, Faye. Let’s go.”

Despite Traveling onto a moving target, her head map had no trouble keeping up with the mad thrashings of the gigantic beast. The spot that she picked was in what seemed like a forest of spines, each one several feet long, a foot in diameter, and ending in a brutal point. It was like being in a stinky living forest. Heinrich let go of her, balanced himself against a spine, lifted the pickax overhead, and embedded it deep into the monster’s flesh. Smoke boiled out of the puncture. The whole world tilted. Heinrich grabbed onto a spine and held on for dear life. Faye Traveled out of there just as the demon tried to scrape the new interloper off against the marble facade of the museum.

She landed a hundred feet away and watched as the demon smashed its way through the building. Heinrich must have Faded through the debris; he reappeared, swinging the pickax again and taunting the demon in German. A flashbulb popped as a nearby reporter took a photograph. Faye figured that guy was even crazier than Heinrich. Everybody with any sense was running. At least the knights had magic, so they had some excuse for sticking it out.

Back on the Virginia side, she had to pause to catch her breath. Her Power was still growing and it was making her a bit giddy. She caught Mr. Browning in the process of telling Mr. Bryce that his Powers were “unsuitable” for their situation, and forbidding him from going. His tone was rather stern and as Bryce sulked away, Mr. Browning turned to face her. Apparently he was next. “But you’re-”

“Old. Yes. Now get a move on, young lady.”

She took him to the front of the Capitol and deposited him next to where the Army was gathering. There were only a handful of small vehicles there, but from the engine noise more were coming. They had been prepared to disperse marchers, not for a situation like this. The evacuating crowd was dense, surging past the soldiers that were trying to get ready to stage a last-ditch defense. The protestors had abandoned all of their antimagic signs and banners. Faye knew she shouldn’t have hated them so much for being here, but she did.

The Summoned was disengaging itself from the museum, which meant that Heinrich was probably gone. It moved into the middle of the open space, placed two of its hands on the ground, lowered its head, and breathed fire down the mall. It wasn’t close enough to burn the protestors yet, but Faye could feel the temperature rise dramatically.

One of the military men was standing on the roof of a truck, giving orders and waving his arms as other vehicles arrived. Faye didn’t know the difference between the various ranks, but this fellow had the fanciest hat and the most embroidery on his sleeves, so that probably made him the boss. He was shouting that they were going to hold this position or else.

Faye, having gotten a pretty good idea of what this particular Summoned was capable of, figured that it was going to end up being or else.

There was one larger green vehicle with tracks on the back and wheels on the front. It wasn’t quite a tank, but it was certainly no tractor, and it did have some sort of big gun on top. A soldier was standing behind it, wrestling with the gun, seemingly unfamiliar with how to operate it.

Mr. Browning saw the soldier having a hard time, so he pushed his way to the back of the tracked vehicle. Another frightened soldier tried to stop him. “What’re you doing, you old coot? You need to scram.”

“That boy has no idea how to use that.” He gestured at the gun. “I do. Let me up there.”

“How would you know?”

“That’s a Browning 30mm auto-cannon. I know because I designed the blasted thing! Now stand aside!” That caught the first solider flat-footed long enough for Mr. Browning to climb up the ladder. Exasperated, he pushed the other soldier out of the way. “What are you doing? It isn’t that complicated.” He pulled a big lever back and opened the tray on top. “Faye, get Dan. See if he’s learned anything from the Coordinator about how to banish this creature.” He slammed the tray down, worked the charging handle back and forth, took up the spade grips and pulled the trigger. The auto-cannon belched a column of flame over the heads of the evacuating masses. The recoil shook the vehicle and the muzzle blast made Mr. Browning’s long coat flap behind him.

There was a chain of small explosions across the demon’s chest. Chunks of plate were knocked off and fell to crush some of the screaming marchers below. Browning stopped shooting long enough to yell at her, “Fly, Faye!” Then he returned to blasting the demon.

“Mr. Garrett!” Faye hit the Virginia side running. Her ears were ringing from the cannon. “Where’s Dan?”

“Over here,” Dan Garrett shouted back. He came around the side of the abandoned house carrying a fat leather book. “Get me to Sullivan, quick.”

That she could certainly do, provided Mr. Sullivan was still alive. It took her two hops to get her head map close enough to find their Heavy. Not surprisingly, he was running along the Mall, between the craters created by monstrous footsteps, trying to catch up with the demon, which was now a few hundred yards ahead of them.

“Jake!” Mr. Garrett shouted, before he fell, dizzy, into the mud. Some folks just didn’t have the constitution to Travel well. “Over here!”

Sullivan slid to a halt, turned, and ran back to them. The Heavy looked like death warmed over. He was almost unrecognizable beneath the coating of dirt and blood. “What’ve you got?”

Dan had used a chunk of newspaper as a bookmark. He flipped the book open to show a complicated spell. “The Coordinator said this was the only antidemon spell he knew of in here. He’d learned it as insurance in case Crow ever got out of hand.”

The demon leapt high into the air to swing at a biplane. The landing shook the whole city and knocked most of them off their feet. “I’d say he’s out of hand now!” Faye exclaimed.

The demon had missed the biplane, and it was buzzing their way. Both mouths opened wide after it, revealing a swirling red light emanating from deep within the monster’s core. Sullivan bellowed, “Get down!”

The demon’s fiery breath streaked their way in a blazing wall of hot death. Faye’s mind was moving quickly, running complex calculations on instinct-the weight of her companions, the approach speed of the jet of flame, the distance her head map told her that she’d have to move all of them to be safe… In a tenth of a second she understood that she would only be able to move one of her friends in time and none of the other injured stragglers trapped beneath the fire.

But she was saved from having to choose at the last instant. The fire broke before them, rushing upward and away. It was a miracle they weren’t consumed. The air was unbearably hot, and Faye was forced to cover her face as the heat threatened to suck the moisture from her eyes.