Page 64 of Shadow Master
His jaw ticked, but he inclined his head. “Very well, as you asked so nicely.”
He strode off toward the rock and took a seat, then offered me a close-lipped smile as if to say, see? I’m sitting.
“You sure he’s not dangerous?” Lloyd asked.
He was a spirit trapped outside of his time. Watching him sitting on a rock alone, his huge frame hunched as if he wanted to simply disappear, sent a pang of unwanted sympathy through me.
“Oh, he’s dangerous all right, but not to us.”
He was cocky and arrogant and kinda nuts, but he hadn’t asked to be torn from his eternal slumber and shoved into an unfamiliar body.
From the look on Lloyd’s face as he studied Brady’s form, he was thinking along the same lines as me.
He tore his attention away from Lugh. “We have a hundred cadets ready to fight,” he said. “That’s all we have. How large is this Laramir’s army?”
Back to business. I liked it. “As far as we know, he has a thousand men. It could be more, or it could be less.”
“Fuck.” Lloyd ran a hand over his head in agitation.
“And the militia?” Kash asked.
Lloyd’s mouth tightened. “I still can’t fucking believe Orion didn’t tell us the fomorians were on our side, and that the real enemy was the fir bolg.”
“We’re grunts,” Hyde said. “They simply needed us to fight, not get involved in the politics of things.”
I answered Kash’s question. “Four hundred at the last count, but more were headed to the border when we left.”
Lloyd’s mouth turned down. “Shitty odds.”
“Yes, if our forces are split,” Hyde said.
Lloyd frowned up at him. “You’re right. If we could fight alongside the fomorians …”
“We can,” Hyde said. He looked to me to deliver the news.
“Laramir’s army isn’t affected by the mist, but our allies are.” I arched a brow and waited for him to catch on.
Lloyd’s mouth parted in comprehension. “We shut off the posts.”
“Yes.”
“You think Orion will allow it?” Kash asked.
I gave him a flat look. “Orion isn’t in charge here. I am.” I focused on Lloyd. “Give the order. Remove the AM modifier chips. We can begin at first light, start with sector three, and work our way across in a large team. Those fucking spider things are back up and running in sector two. We didn’t come across any in sector three, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any there. Hopefully, once the mist is gone, they won’t survive long.”
“Of course,” Devon said. “The fuckers live on mist air.”
“I believe so. If the lack of mist doesn’t kill them, it should weaken them enough for us to pick them off.” I looked up at Hyde. “Can you help us take point on this?”
Hyde nodded curtly. “Of course.”
We had five days until Laramir attacked. Not enough time to prepare, not enough time to do much of anything, but we’d need to make the most of it.
As the guys jogged back down the rise barking orders to the troops, I turned to Kash. “I need your help with Brady.”
Kash looked across at Lugh, still sitting on a rock looking miserable.
“You want Lugh out.”
