“I had thought so. This may change things. Hold your position and concentrate on your shield. Let’s see what comes out before we start shooting again.”
A few seconds passed while the horde that faced us hesitated, apparently as unsure of the new portal as we were.
Then we heard trumpets and the stomp of feet. Ranks of golden armored beings marched from the new portal. I couldn’t identify who had joined the fray or whether they were friend or foe. They marched through quickly, and the portal closed behind them. Leaving perhaps a hundred fighters standing four deep in even lines facing the horde.
I heard helicopter rotors and took a moment to glance upward, half expecting to see another of Armstrong’s attack copters. Instead, a sleek blue Bell helicopter with a local television station’s logo, KRDO, prominently displayed was flying toward the battle site from our rear.
“Well, this one is going to be difficult to cover up,” I said aloud. Over the years, I’d spent a great deal of time and effort to hide my actions, and those of supernatural creatures. Now my biggest fight ever was going to be on the morning news. Assuming someone out there didn’t decide the helicopter was a threat and shoot it down.
“I guess you won’t have to clean up after yourself today,” Tess said with a laugh.
I glanced at her and winked.
She smiled. “When it rains it pours, right?”
“Damn straight, now if this new group will just provide some kind of hint as to their intentions we can get on with–”
I saw the shimmer of yet another portal opening. This one opened to our right, again between us and the original portal, and opposite the second portal.
“What? Did someone send out invitations?” I said.
Someone in the horde noticed the new portal and a portion of the creatures in front of us turned toward it. A few seconds passed and then another group of armored warriors marched onto the battlefield. Much like the group on our left, this group bore mostly swords and re-curve bows. When they were all through and lined up opposite the previous group, their portal also closed.
“Perhaps we should back off and let these people fight it out,” Tess said.
“Not a bad suggestion,” I agreed. “But which group is which and are any of them on our side?”
“Does it really matter who’s side they’re on if they annihilate each other? We can come back and finish off the victors.”
“That’s a little cruel if some of these people are friendly toward us,” I said without inflection.
“Maybe, but I don’t see you fighting three different groups at one time.”
I shrugged. “But if one of them is friendly, we’d only be fighting two groups. Now, if we just had some indication of which one to support and not attack.”
I heard a shout from Beast, and there was movement in the trees at our back. We both turned to see what the hell else was joining the fight.
It was a grizzly. The biggest damn grizzly I’d ever seen or heard of. The damn thing was at least ten feet high at the shoulders, on all fours. It was easily the size of an SUV.
“Oh, frak!” Tess said.
The bear stomped toward us; dust flew up each time its massive paws struck the ground.
Tess raised her crossbow to her shoulder. I reached out and pushed it back down.
She looked at me quizzically.
“I don’t want you to piss it off,” I said.
I had been studying the bear’s aura. Normal mundane creatures have mostly green auras, as they are part of the natural world. This bear’s aura was intensely green, but it had streaks of white running throughout.
“This isn’t a normal bear,” I said.
“You think?” Tess said sarcastically.
“Wait for it to show us what it’s here for,” I said.
The bear stomped toward us, but as it drew nearer, it angled slightly to our east side. It climbed the boulder beside us, stopped, and watched the horde and the two ranks of fighters.
Then its head shook slowly. “Raphael, you sure manage to get yourself into the worse jams.”
The bear’s voice was human and familiar.
“Joe?” I asked.
“You may still call me that,” the bear said.
“Joe, you’re a were-bear?” Tess asked.
“No, young one. For now, I am just a bear. After today’s fight, well, we shall have to see what I am then.”
“I don’t understand,” Tess said.
“That is understandable. I am now one with my spirit totem. Whether I will ever be just a man again has yet to be revealed to me.”
My eyes widened. I’d heard of great shamans becoming spirit totems, but I thought it more a metaphor for death and traveling on to those happy hunting grounds I heard about as a kid.
“Joe, you can see we have more company than I was expecting. Do you have any idea what’s going on out here?” I asked.
“Apparently, not all of the gods were ready for Ragnarök to begin today. Some are here to support Rowle and others are here to prevent him.”
“Wait, you mean those guys are gods!” Tess said.
“Yes, young one.”
“But doesn’t Ragnarök begin when the gods start fighting?” Tess asked. “I thought that’s what the whole thing was about.”
I turned back toward the horde and the two lines of gods. “Do you have any idea which group is trying to prevent Rowle from starting this?”
“Not a clue, you know all your white man gods look alike to us,” Joe said. He made a coughing sound that racked his body with great shudders.
“Joe, are you sick?” Tess asked.
“No, that was him laughing,” I said.
“Oh.”
Beneath our boulder, in the area between the two ranks of gods, the horde had made up their minds. They turned east, toward the second rank of gods to arrive.
“I guess we know who’s who now,” I said.
As the horde began their charge, several of the gods released arrows that flew straight and true and did not slow down upon striking their initial target. After passing through dozens
