'There's always something that worries you,' Ruby said resignedly. 'What is it this time?'
'I haven't seen any sign of Young Jack Random yet. He wasn't anywhere in the battle. I would have known. So where is he, and what is he up to?'
'Damn, you're right. That is worrying.'
'If you don't like that one, you'll love this. Why aren't the Ghost Warriors attacking?'
'All right, I'll bite. Why?'
'Because they're waiting for someone. Most probably Young Jack Random. With reinforcements he didn't commit to the first battle.'
There was a sound out on the plain, and they both turned to look. The sound quickly developed into the rhythmic hammer of marching feet and a second army of dead men came marching out of the distance, easily a thousand strong, with the shining silver, armor-clad figure of Young Jack Random smiling at their head. They joined up with the silently waiting first force, and then stood motionlessly in ranks, staring unblinkingly at the narrow opening to the valley—and the two flesh-and-blood legends who held it.
They ignored the two human forces still fighting doggedly some distance away. Shub knew where the real threat lay.
'Don't you ever get tired of being right all the time?' said Ruby almost angrily. 'These are not good odds, Jack. We really might be in trouble here.'
'If there's a choice between being taken dead or alive, I think we'd be wise to go for dead,' said Random. 'Vivisection is probably no fun at all if you're still alive when they do it.'
'I'm glad I've got you to look on the cheerful side,' said Ruby. 'I suppose running like hell is out of the question?'
'Unfortunately, yes. We have to hold our ground to buy time. Time for Vidar's army to defeat the rebels. For the lull in the weather to pass and the storms to return. Or, if all else fails, for us to whittle down the number of Ghost Warriors to the point that the city might stand a chance. Either way, it's all down to us.'
'Of course,' said Ruby Journey. 'It always is, isn't it?'
'We've got eight, maybe nine hours till the lull is over,' said Random calmly. 'We might last till then. After that things should get really interesting. Forget what I said earlier. They might just decide to come after us anyway, even through the storms. After all, they're dead. They don't feel the wind, or the cold, or the cutting dust. And Shub really does want us very badly. I wonder if that's why they sent Young Jack Random here, to be bait in a trap for us… It doesn't matter. No, Ruby, I think we have to accept that we're here for the duration. Until one side or the other has nothing left to gain.'
'Hold everything,' said Ruby. 'I think the curtain just went up.'
The entire army of Ghost Warriors came surging across the plain toward them, while Young Jack Random stood to one side and cheered them on with a cheerful human voice. The dead men were silent, the only sound the rumbling thunder of their dead feet on the hard, unrelenting ground. Random and Ruby hefted their swords and stood at the valley entrance, waiting.
'If we do fall here…' said Random.
'Yes?' said Ruby.
'At least it will be a good death. A warrior's death.'
'Yeah. We were never meant for civilization, Jack.'
'But if by some miracle we do come out of this alive…'
'Yes?'
'I'm going to do things differently. No more politics. No more compromises. I'm going to follow my heart and my conscience, and God help anyone who gets in my way.'
'Sounds like a plan to me,' said Ruby.
And then the first of the Ghost Warriors were upon them. Random and Ruby stood together and wielded their blades with more than human strength and speed, cutting the Ghost Warriors apart, literally dismantling the animated corpses until they fell helplessly to the ground. Those were quickly hauled out of the way so that more Ghost Warriors could take their place, and the struggle continued. Only five or six could enter the valley at a time, and Random and Ruby had no difficulty handling that many. At first. But there were always more Ghost Warriors to take the place of those who fell, and the dead never grew tired.
Random and Ruby fought on, but after the first hour they had begun to slow, and their strength was not what it was. There was never any break, and they dared not retreat so much as a step. Enemy swords were starting to get past their defenses, and their wounds were taking longer to heal. It had been a long, hard day, even for two living legends. Their breath came raggedly now, burning in their lungs. Sweat ran down their faces, stinging in their eyes and tasting of salt on their lips. The ground grew slippery underfoot with their own blood. Still the Ghost Warriors came, and Random had to admit to himself what he had always known. That while two warriors could hold off an army for a time, they couldn't do it forever.
So he did the only thing left to him. He reached out to Ruby with his mind, and their thoughts met and merged. In a moment that was no time at all, they reached deep within themselves, and power blazed up from the back brain, the undermind, up through their altered minds and out into the real world, where it became a wall of searing, consuming fire that surged away from Random and Ruby, burning up everything in its path. Ghost Warriors blackened and shriveled up, as though a part of the sun had come down and touched the earth. Dead flesh was consumed, given peace at last, and Shub tech melted down into pools of smoking liquid metal. Over a hundred Ghost Warriors were consumed in the first few seconds, and still the wall of heat roared on, devouring everything in its path. The army of Ghost Warriors turned to flee, but the wall of fire was faster, and pursued them out across the open plain.
By the time the flames snapped out, more than half the Shub army had been reduced to blackened husks, scattered across the plain in dark, featureless heaps. The survivors stood ranged before Young Jack Random, who was no longer smiling. Back at the valley entrance, Random and Ruby had fallen to their knees, heads hanging down in exhaustion. They'd put the last of their strength into maintaining that attack, and they had nothing left. The flames they had called up had not injured them, but now the heat radiating back from the scorched valley walls was almost overpowering.
'Now, that was a good one,' said Ruby, her voice a toneless croak. 'Think we could do it again?'
'Not a chance in hell,' said Random. 'But let's hope Young Jack Random doesn't know that. God, I feel bad.'
'Same here. And we didn't even get most of them. I have a horrible suspicion we may have peaked too early.'
'We had no choice. They would have overwhelmed us.'
'The survivors still might.' Ruby raised her head painfully slowly and looked out over the plain. 'Shit. We got maybe half of them. And that smug metal bastard's still out there. Wonder what he's waiting for?'
'Probably to see how weakened we are. On your feet, Ruby. Maybe we can still bluff them.'
But they couldn't get up without leaning heavily on each other, and even after they'd forced themselves up onto their trembling legs, their swords still hung limply from their hands.
'I don't know if you've noticed,' said Ruby. 'But our wounds aren't healing anymore.'
'I noticed. I think that wall of flame took everything we had. Until we get a chance to rest and recover, we're tapped out.
We're… just human again. Nothing left but our guns and our steel and our good right arms.'
'Good,' said Ruby. 'I always thought that was a more honest way to fight.'
'There is still… one option,' said Random.
'Is there, by God?' said Ruby. 'I'd love to hear it.'
'You get the hell out of here. Run. Make your way back to Vidar while I hold them here as long as I can. Maybe buy you enough time to get some kind of defense organized in the city.'
'A nice thought,' said Ruby. 'But no.'
'If you stay, we'll both die. Where's the sense in that? At least my way, one of us gets to live. Be logical, Ruby.'
'I am. There are no defenses left to organize at Vidar. And you should know I never ran from a good fight in my life.' She paused. 'Everyone has to die somewhere. And I never thought I'd die in bed. Never wanted to. This is as good a way to go as any.'
