Verena's Whistle: Varangian Descendants Book I by K. Panikian (essential reading txt) 📗

bes camp. The rest of you set up our camp in those trees over there,” I gestured west. “Make sure you’re far enough off the trail that no one can see your campfire, and keep the fire small. We need at least two tents set up too.” I handed over mine from my backpack. “Use the modern ones, not the Varangian version. Ours are warmer, I think.”

“Then decide which guys are on guard duty first for tonight, and which are eating and sleeping.” I paused. “Anything I missed? Any questions?”

No one said anything so I turned to Owen. “Ready, partner?”

We trekked back through the trees and then settled into the snow on the ridgeline. I made a nest of fir tree boughs so we weren’t sitting directly in the snow, but it’s hard to say if it helped. My rear was very quickly freezing cold.

We took turns using the binoculars and tried to keep a running count of what besy we saw. I scanned the edges of the valley too, trying to determine if there were scouts keeping watch. I couldn’t see directly below us though; the trees were too thick.

Mostly I tried to think of why they were down there. Owen suggested they were doing some kind of training exercise – survive undetected in the human world for a week and then return to the portal world. That was plausible.

Or, the scarier possibility was this was the vanguard of a larger force. They came through first to find a spot to build a camp, but more would be following. If that were the case, we’d left the portal unguarded. We would have no idea if more besy came through. I wished we had more people, so some could head back and guard the gate.

The cohort below appeared too large for us to engage directly. But if we could get rid of them, then we could all head back to the portal. We needed to come up with a way to destroy this camp.

The combination of todorats, giants, ogres, and dragons would be difficult. At least some of them would be magic users as well. We had no more Greek fire. We had a berserker who could definitely take out a chunk of the bauks and other non-magic-wielding besy, especially if he had Julian fighting with him. Bard’s energy bolts would be needed for any of the besy with magic, however. Theo and, presumably, Cato had sword skills; maybe they could take out some of the psoglavs and azhdaya? That was a tall order though. If I fought with Theo and Cato, that would help. But that left the todorats and the balachko. Just one of those besy would be a fight to the death, and I’d seen at least three of each.

I hadn’t done nearly enough experimenting with my nightingale power. Could I control more than one bes at once? I hadn’t tried it seriously on any of the other elements either, though my fire control was very strong.

My thoughts churned. We watched the monsters until the sun started to go down. They didn’t light any fires. No need to cook their meat, I guessed. And no need to light fires to see by.

I second-guessed the decision to keep watch on them during the night. We couldn’t see anything in the camp and any bes coming up the trail would see us and smell us long before we saw them.

I talked to Owen and he agreed. We stood and crept back up the ridge, through the woods. I knew generally where our camp would be, but without that help, I wouldn’t have found it. The guys created a deep pit in the snow and the fire was small inside of it. We were probably a mile away from the enemy camp back here in the trees. Hopefully that was far enough they wouldn’t smell the smoke.

I told the others that the camp had gone dark when the sun went down and we couldn’t see anything, but a pair would need to be up at first light to resume the watch. If we took turns every six hours or so, Owen and I would be up again for that watch.

I mimed to Cato and Bard that there were no fires below, nothing to see, and they seemed fine with the decision to leave the lookout spot. They were cooking another pouch over the fire and I opened another MRE.

When I was done eating, I felt tired but full of anxiety. I wasn’t sure if I could sleep. The bes camp was overwhelming my thoughts.

Bard said something to Cato and the younger man rose to his feet in front of the fire. He made a pulling gesture and the smoke drifted toward him. His fingers danced and, in the smoke appeared a large stone fort. It was the citadel from the portal world I’d seen in Grandpa Basil’s hands. Cato’s view expanded and we looked down on the towers from a great height, then the view expanded further and we saw the army that encircled the citadel.

It was a bes army. The creatures bellowed and roared and the ground shook. They were ranged in rows. Some wore armor and carried swords. They flashed their fangs at the fortress and stomped their hooves and giant feet.

On the citadel walls, five figures stood. In the bailey behind them, five giant cauldrons of Greek fire sat. Beside the cauldrons, a girl stood. Her long red hair was tied back in a braid and her face was pale but determined. She raised her hands in the air and the cauldrons rose too. She sent them, spinning without spilling a drop, up, and over the citadel walls. Once they were over the walls, she hurled them in five different directions at the army that surrounded the fortress. Just before impact, the five mages on the walls raised their fists and the cauldrons exploded.

The Greek fire spread in a black and red all-consuming wave through the bes