Free The Space Between by Scott J Robinson Page B

said.
    The dust cloud was starting to disperse and
figures were now clearly visible around the still writhing form of
the bat.
    Kim swore.
    They all wore colorful, clanking, hissing
armor, like the strange figure who'd been standing in the Major
Oak. Kim turned to Meledrin. "What the hell is going on here?"
    "I told already. Monsters attacking here
have already attacked my people."
    "Yes, but..." Kim watched as more and more
armored figures became visible. There were more than a dozen of
them, moving with a sense of slow implacability.
    Keeble said something then crossed quickly
to a display of weapons outside a nearby tent. He selected a sword,
swung it awkwardly, threw it aside and took an axe instead.
    "Keeble says creature weapons fire... Not
know word. I believe it like lightning."
    "They shoot lightning?"
    "As I said, not certain."
    "Shit." Kim looked around as if inspiration
might strike her. It was better than anything else that might
strike her. "Boydie, you might want to get those two cannons
loaded."
    But Boydie was gone. He was disappearing
into the trees at a sprint. There were still a few cannoneers
around.
    Kim took a deep breath. "Cannoneers, load
up."
    None of the men moved.
    "I just gave an order. Why aren't you
moving?" They weren't real soldiers, but they started to move. One
of the men who'd been assisting Boydie took charge. There was one
cannon already loaded so Kim took Harry by the arm and dragged him
over to it.
    "Shouldn't we wait to see if they attack
us?" Harry asked, match held in his trembling fingers. It was
finally getting the better of him, and Kim used that thought to
gather courage.
    "Do you think these things were prisoners of
the bat?"
    "No."
    "Right."
    But at that moment a knight, just a couple
of meters away, started to scream. He shuddered and convulsed,
caught on the end of a long beam of crackling, distorted air. Smoke
streamed from the joints of his armor after he'd fallen to the
ground.
    "Don't stop," Kim shouted to the men loading
the cannons. She swallowed bile and rushed to lower the muzzle of
the one that was already loaded. Harry pulled her away after a
moment.
    "Beware." He dropped his match, quickly
regathered and lit it with shaking fingers. "Fire in the hole."
    The cannonball crashed into one of the
armored creatures and took out another behind.
    "We'll get the bastards." Harry said in a
shaking voice as he moved to another cannon.
    But there were fresh screams coming from the
main crowd. People were scattering again.
    Kim wanted to help but didn't know what to
do. She stayed where she was, dividing her glance between the
monsters and the crowd.
    "Beware. Fire in the hole."
    Kim remembered to cover her ears. And again
a minute later. More of the creatures fell, but not nearly enough.
The rest continued their slow advance. They were three quarters of
the way to the main crowd now.
    Men came to load the cannon in front of
her.
    "This will be our last shot," Harry
said.
    "What? Why?"
    "Today was the last day of the festival. We
never bother lugging spare powder around. Hell, the balls are just
for show. You're lucky we had any at all."
    Kim wasn't feeling lucky. "Damn it."
    She looked around for inspiration once more.
Keeble was by the weapons' rack, lazily swinging his newly acquired
axe in his one good hand. There were more than twenty other
'warriors' standing around as well. Sir Douglas was one of them,
blood seeping through the bandage on his arm.
    "Doug." The big man didn't answer.
"Douglas."
    He spun to look at her.
    "Get your sword."
    "What?" No knightly affectations at all.
    "Get your sword, buddy." Kim headed for the
nearest rack to find her own weapon, wondering with each step if
her legs would support her. She made it all the way and, looking at
the choices, decided on a solid, spiked mace. She didn't know if
she'd be able to do any damage with a sword even if the creatures
didn't have the armor.
    "Are you crazy?" Douglas asked.
    "The way I see it, standing around