Page 56 of Dark Stars
"I wish I was."
"At least you didn't have to pretend to bethe pope," Bobby said.
"Small favors. Anyway, Dark Young, wards,and also something lurking in the middle by the altar that I couldnot read at all. In fact it only looked like a whole lot ofparticularly dark mist, so likely an obfuscating spell of somesort, or it was beyond my comprehension, and that's what my brainwent with."
"Hmm…" Bobby said thoughtfully. "None of therelatives involved would come here themselves, not the way I do.Azathoth wouldn't even know how. He's so old that the last time helowered himself to walking the mortal plane, let alone amongsthumans, this version of the universe didn't exist."
"I can't even comprehend that," Alejo said."Will you get that old?"
Bobby shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. Itry to live in the present as much as I can. The fact remains,Azathoth would not come deal with this personally. I don't thinkthe Unnamed Darkness would either. But Shub-Niggurath might, atleast in some way, like sending down a piece of her shadow givenhuman-ish form to deal with the mess that has made her father andgrandfather angry. How many humans?"
"Thirty, give or take. I can handle thehumans easily enough. Even hopped on primordial blood, they'restill just part of the food chain." Jones's eyes glowed softly, hisfangs flashing ever so briefly. "They'll come when called."
"But thirty or more?"
"My limit is forty-five, give or take. I wasnever in a position to exactly count them, but that was the bestrough estimate I ever got. So I can deal with the humans, which isthe first problem resolved. The second will be the wards."
"Leave those to me," Harold said. "If thefirst three rows are visible, then I can take them down at once. Ifthey have more past that, I'll figure it out then. Yousiren-calling away the humans will cause enough of a distractionfor me to do that."
"That's two down, two to go," Alejo said."The Dark Young and the hidden big bad. I can handle the DarkYoung, at least long enough for the others to finish their part,and then they can come help me."
Harold's brows rose in silent question.
Alejo smirked. "Do you know how many antsthere are on this planet? Twenty quadrillion.At least. Twoand a half million ants per person. Do you know how many of thoseants are right here in this forest?"
Jones matched his smirk. "More thanenough?"
"Precisely," Alejo said with fierce delight."Nevermind all the other bugs that will help me if asked. Theydon't like these interlopers any more than we do. Leave the DarkYoung to me, at least until you can help. That leaves you the bigbad, Flick."
"Indeed," Bobby said. "If at any point I sayrun, do it. Understood?"
"Understood," the others said in unison.
"You have your necklaces?" Some of histension uncoiled as they pulled them out to prove they were indeedwearing them. It wasn't in doubt, he could always feel thetalismans to some degree, but he felt better all the same forasking and seeing. "Good. We leave the four-wheelers here. I'llcome back for them at some point to take home."
Harold made a vague gesture in the air. "Wehave about two hours until dark."
"It will take about that long to get thereif we walk, as I assume we don't want to use any magic on thechance it will tip them off," Jones said. "So either we attacktonight, or we wait until sunlight. Dark gives all of us anadvantage, but it gives them an advantage too. Daylight putseveryone at a disadvantage, but them more than us. But the longerwe wait, the higher the chance of getting caught before we can popthem first. So which is it, oh primordial overlord?"
"Tonight," Bobby said. "I want all theadvantage I can get, and as you say, the sooner we strike, thebetter for us. Jones and Harold will start us off. Alejo will thendeal with the Dark Young. I'll help as able, but I prefer to holdback until the big bad is revealed, so I'm not trapped in someother fight when they enter the battle."
"You got it," Harold said, eyes glowing afaint but brilliant magenta as he called up all of his magic,something he so rarely did because there simply wasn't need in theday to day, even with his trickier cases.
"Let's get to it," Jones said, and led theway through the woods. When they were several yards back, he threwout an arm to stop them, though they could all feel the presence ofthe wards, which were nothing to scoff at. No, this was high levelwork. Far better than anything Bobby had dealt with thus far.
"Here goes nothing," Harold murmured, andcrept forward, keeping low, until he was at the edge of the veryfirst ward. "Anyone nearby?"
Jones's eyes glowed red, like fresh blood insunlight. "Not now."
Harold smiled briefly in thanks, thenreturned to his magic, which spread out like tiny tributaries alongthe wards, working from the outside and then steadily inward,spreading along each ring. As the magic reached the third ring, thefirst ring faded away where the magic had touched it, leaving a gapas wide as three people. From there, it would degrade like beingsteadily eaten away by acid.
"My turn," Jones said, stepping past therings. From the shadows came figures that were indistinct at firstbut quickly became human, a steady trickle that headed straight forJones as he slowly backed away, a pied piper leading rats to theirdoom.
As they passed by, Harold rose and put manyof them to sleep with a simple touch and softly whisperedspell.
"They're coming," Bobby murmured.
Alejo moved forward, past the wave ofhumans, and all through the woods, Bobby could hear the delicatescrape and skittering of countless bugs, the numbers and soundgrowing in volume at a steady rate.
