Chapter 46 – The Shield

  “Captain MacGregor," I said, “Before we go, you wouldn't happen to have a spare riot shield lying around, would you?"

  The police captain raised an eyebrow, then cracked a grin. "You want to tank for real now, Castle?"

  I laughed and gave a small shrug. “Played a few RPG games yourself, huh?”

  “Nope. But I have kids who did,” MacGregor replied. “We’ll get you a shield.”

  “Thanks. Maggie’s going to be talking to things that have been throwing Ice Blasts at us. I can take those hits, but she can’t. I’ll put myself in the way of any incoming shots, but I’d like a little insurance between her and the next spell."

  He nodded, then turned and barked an order. A moment later, one of the officers jogged up with a full-sized polycarbonate riot shield, reinforced with a thick central spine of molded steel. It looked heavy and probably was, but when he handed it over, I hefted it easily with one hand. A few of the officers exchanged glances. I pretended not to notice.

  “What do you mean, you’ll put yourself in the way?” Maggie asked me. She looked worried. “I don’t want you dying to save me.”

  “Ah. Well, one of the spells I have from the crystals is called Natural Armor. It makes my skin and bones nearly unbreakable. I can still be hurt, especially by high rank monsters, but not easily,” I told her. I turned to MacGregor. “You have a blade handy?”

  He tossed me a sheathed knife, a big one. It looked like something Rambo would be carrying around. “Don’t lose it, eh? It was a gag gift my kids bought me a couple of years back. Never thought it would actually turn out to be useful.”

  “We’re all doing a lot of things all of us never thought we would be,” I replied. Then I unsheathed the knife and turned back toward Maggie, holding it so she could see. “I can’t be hurt by something like this.”

  Then I jabbed my left palm a few times with the knife. I kept it fairly gentle. With my Strength, there was a good chance I could actually put that blade through my Natural Armor, if I pushed it hard enough. My Regeneration would heal that quick enough, but I wanted to reassure her, not scare her.

  “Oh,” Maggie said, staring. Her eyes were very large. “Okay. I think I get it, now.”

  I stepped back and offered Maggie my free hand. "You ready for this?"

  "As I’ll ever be," she replied, sliding her bat into the loop on her pack. “Let’s go meet the enemy.”

  We moved slowly up the cracked asphalt toward the front line, weaving between scorched cars and broken barricades. The air smelled like ozone and burnt shellfish. Spells flashed between both sides ahead of us. An Ice Blast spell struck one officer with a glancing blow. He grunted but stayed upright.

  "Stay behind me," I said to Maggie. “I need you close, like right up against my back, got it?"

  "Got it," she replied. Her voice was tight, but focused.

  A streak of magic whizzed by overhead. I raised the riot shield instinctively, angling it to cover both of us. Another blast smacked into the side of a nearby truck, icing over the metal in an instant.

  We made it another twenty feet forward. The defenders saw us and let us pass, pulling back just enough to give us a corridor. Then we were clear of the human line. There was no more cover, just open pavement between us and the chitin-armored force crouched twenty yards ahead.

  "Hold up!" I called, planting my feet and lifting the shield high. "We’re not attacking. We’ve got someone who wants to speak to you."

  The lobster line didn’t react immediately. There were at least thirty of them standing there, clustered behind two more giant crabs, but they all paused. No magic spells flashed our way and no spears flew. Yet, anyway. Had they understood me? Had they been able to understand us all along? Or did they just see two insane people walking toward them and stop for some other reason? Maybe they were as curious a species as humans were.

  Maggie stepped forward, hand lightly on my back. "Here goes nothing.”

  Then she raised her voice until it was loud enough to carry. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but I can understand you now. I have a Language stone. We want to talk!"

  At first, there was no reaction from the enemy. Then, one of the lobsters stepped forward. It was taller than the rest, with shell markings that almost looked ceremonial. It raised a claw and began clicking rapidly, the sounds sharp and metallic, like stones being struck together.

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  Maggie sucked in a breath. Her eyes widened.

  "What is it saying?" I asked, voice low.

  Her lips parted. "It said, ‘We do not parlay with food.’”

  That didn’t sound like the start of a peace negotiation. I held the shield firm, feet planted. Like MacGregor said, even a delay worked in our favor. The fighting was on pause. All up and down the battle line, spells had stopped flying while both sides waited to see what the outcome of this conversation would be. That was giving our people time to rest, recover, and be ready for whatever was coming next.

  "Keep going," I told her. "Let’s see where this goes."

  Maggie was impressive. For me, standing out there was pretty easy. I could take whatever damage they could send my way. Even the fancy-looking lobster was only tier four. He was some sort of leader or officer, but even he didn’t have the power to do any real damage to me. Worst case, I could just fly away.

  But Maggie had no magical protections to keep her in one piece. She was trusting me to keep her safe, but that sort of trust took guts. She kept her hand pressed lightly against my back and spoke again. “We don’t want to fight! We’re not trying to hurt you. We want to find peace. There are children behind this line. Families. If there’s a way to stop the violence, we want to find it.”

  The lobster leader cocked its head. It gave another series of sharp clicks, which Maggie translated for me in real time, her voice trembling slightly. I could feel her fingers tighten their grip on what was left of my shirt. “You poisoned our home. You burned the water and filled it with death. And now you squat on land that is not yours.”

  That was weird. What did they mean by that? “What land that’s not ours? You mean Boston?”

  Maggie repeated my words. The creature responded with another burst of clicking. Maggie blinked.

  “It says,” she translated, “this land was taken from the sea by force. Stolen. Your kind dumped rock and garbage into the ocean and claimed it as their own. Now you reap the consequences.”

  I looked out across the cracked street, past the sea monsters to the glittering bay beyond. And I got it. MacGregor had guessed that maybe they were trying to sink the city. He’d nailed it. That was their mission. They were going to take back everything humans had built on reclaimed land, using magic to do it.

  I turned back to Maggie. “The landfill. Boston’s shoreline used to be way inland. Whole neighborhoods are built on filled-in harbor.”

  She nodded slowly. “And now they want it back. But not just that. They want revenge, too.”

  The lobster spoke again. Maggie translated: “There can be no peace until the wounds of the ocean are healed. Until the stolen land is returned to the sea.”

  “You’re talking about drowning half the city,” I said, not bothering to wait for translation. “Thousands of people will die.”

  Maggie repeated my words. The lobster’s eyes, black and unblinking, didn’t waver. Her shoulders sagged slightly. “They don’t care,” she said quietly. “Or maybe they think we deserve it.”

  That might have been the end of it, but Maggie took another step, slipping partway out from behind me, where the lobster could see who he was speaking with. I shifted the shield so ti would cover her better, but the move made me nervous.

  “Be careful. I’m a much better barrier than this plastic shield,” I said.

  Maggie nodded. “I know. But I have to try. If I don’t convince them to stop the attack, a lot of people are going to die. Maybe he’ll be amenable to talking more if he can see my face.”

  “Listen,” she said, calling out in a loud voice to the lobsters again. “If you attack again, people will die. Our people and yours. There’s been enough loss already. I don’t know how to fix all the damage done to the oceans, but I do know this. We can try. We can talk. But not if you keep treating us like pests to exterminate.”

  The lobster didn’t reply. Its claw lowered slowly. Then it turned and clicked something at one of the others. The lobster fighting line took two steps back. Were they retreating? Had she done it?

  It spoke again, another series of clicking sounds.

  Maggie translated right away. “Armistice benefits us, for now. We will withdraw one hundred meters. Do not follow, or we will fight again.”

  I blinked. “Holy shit. You did it, Maggie! Nice work. Did they actually say meters?”

  She shook her head. “No, but that’s how it translated in my head. When they talk, I just hear it like it’s English. Whatever measurement system they have, the crystal must be converting it for me.”

  “Cool.” A lot weird, but very cool.

  A long pause followed. Then the entire line began to withdraw, slipping back toward the waterfront. The giant crabs followed. I kept the shield raised until they were gone. They didn’t retreat all the way back to their homes in the water, just the hundred meters or so they’d promised, but that was still more than I’d hoped for when MacGregor asked us to try this nutty scheme.

  I let out a long breath once they were out of range. “That... went better than I expected.”

  “Maybe. But maybe not,” Maggie replied. “They said ‘armistice benefits them.’ That means they’re not giving us a breather because it’s the right thing to do, or to let more of our people escape. They’re doing it because it helps their plans.”

  “True, and I bet I know how, too,” I replied. It wasn’t hard to figure out. “They have these three towers set up that are spilling water into the streets. If they’re trying to sink the city under the ocean with magic, my guess is those sites are the places making it happen. It’s got to be some sort of massive spell, and it’s not happening instantly.”

  “It’s taking time,” Maggie said. “Time we just gave them.”

  Her voice sounded guilty, like she thought she’d failed. I shook my head. “No, we needed that time, too. Every minute gives us more time to evacuate civilians. We’ll deal with those towers. Like the dude said, this is an armistice, not a peace treaty. We’ve got a temporary cease-fire. I’m pretty sure things are going to explode back into action soon enough. But for now? What you just did saved a lot of lives, and it was impressive as hell.”

  She flashed me a grin at that. “Thanks. Can we go find Emmy now? I want to make sure she’s safe.”

  “Yeah, good idea. The way that kid gets into trouble, you’re going to need a team of bodyguards to keep her safe.”

  “Or maybe just one really strong one,” Maggie replied.