Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the distant haze for a rew moments, then glanced at Kim, who was busy with repairs. The [Evil Eye] memory he nad given ner was supposed to make one capable of seeing things at a greater distance... however, there was an easier way.

He called out to Sergeant Gere, who happened to be hurrying past at that exact moment.

"Hey, Sergeant."

The man stopped and looked at the Captain... who was standing on top of the terrifying monster the Irregulars had recently received from the Nightmare Spell, for some reason.

Already accustomed to their leader's eccentric behavior, the soldier did not even bother to try and guess the reason.

"Yes, Captain?"

Sunny lingered for a moment.

"Do you have... what are they called... binoculars?"

Gere nodded.

"Of course, sir. We have several pairs, one per vehicle. Standard military issue."

Sunny gave him a tense look, then said quietly:

"Go bring me the best ones."

Slightly disturbed by that tone, Gere glanced at the bundle of blankets he was carrying, then dropped them into the snow and dashed toward the tail of the convoy. Very soon, he returned with a pair of modern binoculars and, not daring to approach the monster, threw them to the Captain.

Sunny caught them, brought the unfamiliar device to his eyes, and looked east. At first, the image was blurry and unclear, but then, something hummed softly, and it came into focus on its own.

Suddenly, it felt as though he was standing much, much closer to the slope of a distant mountain. Sunny could even see the individual boulders, as well as mounds of snow between them. Moving the binoculars, he searched for a stretch of open sky.

A few seconds later, he finally laid his eyes on the haze that obscured it.

Sunny remained motionless for around a minute after that, then silently lowered his hands. His face remained still, but his eyes were suddenly terribly bleak.

Feeling something, Sergeant Gere cleared his throat.

"Sir? What is it?"

with those bleak eyes, making the soldier

'What is it...'

repeated the question in

was not

and a leech, with leathery wings,

he saw thousands, and thousands, and thousands

not caused by the returning blizzard. It was a horde of flying abominations that

horde of horrid abominations was

mouth was terribly dry. He glanced at the convoy that stretched along the narrow road, a few vehicles blocked from

"..Sir?"

forced himself to focus on

they

he threw all unnecessary thoughts out of his mind and

out and load them into the infirmary transport. Do it as fast as

Gere blinked.

"The infirmary transport? But..."

Interrupting him, Sunny barked:

Interrupting him, Sunny barked:

"Now!"

soldier flinched. This was the first time

something had gone terribly wrong, Gere ran

***

"...Move, move, move!"

few minutes later, the frightened refugees were being hastily loaded into the infirmary vehicle. The soldiers were running around, preparing for a swift departure. The Irregulars were getting ready for

middle of all this havoc, giving

all of it. Empty the reserves entirely. Throw all non-essential cargo out, we need as much speed as we can get. Samara! You have three minutes

going to make it... there's

well-maintained road. Of course, fighting it was not an option, either.

would die a gruesome

And yet...

seemed to be traveling from east to west, while the fleet was heading north. If, by some miracle, they managed to

ahead, one that Sunny had