And it was all my fault.
“Mei!” I shouted like a fool. “I’m coming!”
Her head turned, and I saw the faintest hint of recognition in her eyes, along with something else - hope, maybe. It was enough to lift my spirits for a moment.
Then, of course, everyone else in the room turned to face me, too.
Note to self - making your presence known to a room full of scary enemies hell bent on your death wasn’t my greatest idea. Oh well. Nothing I could do now but take down as many as I could along the way. Who knew? Maybe I wouldn’t make it. After I saved Mei, of course.
Man, my therapist would be so proud of all my positive thoughts of late. I’d have to call her when this was over. If this was over, I reminded myself. Gotta keep that streak up.
The only thing missing was an epic soundtrack, and I was all out of earbuds. Oh well. I could hum a good tune in my head with the best of them. But what to choose?
Who was I fooling, there was only one choice. Duran Duran.
Katana in hand and one too many “do do dos” in my head, I advanced on the band of warriors right about the same time they came for me.
I swung my blade in wide, bloody arcs like an angel of death. There was precious little maneuvering room for the Iceni as packed as they were, so I had an innate advantage, and I took full use of it.
My blade raked the chest of one guy and buried itself in another’s neck. Both fell to the ground clutching their wounds, only to be trampled by the next set of Iceni to take their place.
With practiced ease, I cut deep into a woman’s leg, almost severing it at the knee. Then I kicked her into the combatant behind her, and they both fell over in a heap.
I kept swinging and swinging, sending a hail of blood droplets flying through the air and slicking the ground with enemy guts, but no matter how much I cut or how many Iceni I mowed down, more kept advancing.
Even I could see that this was fast becoming hopeless. With a groan, I gave up just a little bit of ground as an enemy club swiped for my head, threatening to end me right then and there. I backed into the doorway and my spine smacked into the metal frame.
I’d miscalculated my retreat. I was stuck.
There was nothing more I could do. I’d have to try to wade my way through their bodies instead.
I sliced upward, cleaving my current opponent’s chin in two and driving the blade deep into his skull, then threw my weight onto his rapidly falling body.
We both tumbled through the air, the ground coming up to meet me. Several hands and blunt instruments reached for me. A club managed to land a glancing blow, and pain shot up my side. Then it was done. I landed with a thud and immediately went into a roll to dodge a low sword blow that was aimed square at my back.
My head rammed into another guy’s legs, and I toppled him over as well, as a fresh wave of stars swam in my head from the impact.
I rolled again, and finally I was free enough to make a new stand. I pushed myself up onto my feet with my free hand and spun in a circle, trying to fend off a fresh wave of assailants.
The blade of my katana hit something soft, and I heard a sickening slurping noise as I disemboweled another attacker that fell to his feet behind me, screaming something in Gaelic I would never understand.
I was still winning, but it was becoming a bit much.
My eyes quickly darted about as I tried to figure out where I’d ended up. I was about five feet from the entryway and near one of the large outer walls. The enemy ranks had thinned a bit. I figured I’d taken out a good dozen or so Iceni by this point, but there were still so many left. It was starting to feel a bit hopeless.
A lanky woman in front of me lunged, and I danced to the side. She careened into another club-wielding man behind me and they both fell into a pair of sword-wielding Iceni behind them. Weapons clanged and went clattering to the floor as a tangled mess of Iceni warriors scrambled to keep their footing, giving me a momentary respite.
I used their confusion to dispatch the other guy in front of me. He had two rather nasty-looking daggers in his hands, but stunned as he was, it was easy enough to swipe high and bite into his neck without getting hit by either of them.
He slumped to the ground, his eyes still holding that shocked expression, and I scrambled to take up a stance near the wall behind him.
By my estimate, I still had about twenty feet of space before I got to the makeshift altar, and way too many enemy bodies in between here and there. But I’d made a good dent. Sheila and Rick would be safe if they followed my orders. They could take it from here. I just had to hold out for another few minutes.
I stared down the next wave of attackers. I could make out two more guys with maces, and a pair of women with longswords, along with a couple other blokes that looked to have some sort of hook weapon in their hands - likely some sort of scrap metal from the lumber yard.
“Don’t suppose we can just forgive and forget, eh?” I asked them, throwing one of the women a wink.
The men growled, and the women readied their blades. So much for that famous Asian charm of mine, I guess.
Just then, the chanting stopped, and the room went
