Globe Tracers 3: Heritage of Triad

Chapter 4: Scream of the Banshee

"The Triads had actually spread their ideas, many cells seeding further cells, continuing to use Recheon's strategy of disconnection. There were now even different attack dates for thousands of new groups. The survivors of the first attacks continued to plague royals, and new groups kept popping up all over. Those loyal to Olympus saw the military crumbling and the royal families living in fear from an unknowable enemy. Rumors spread that Triad was bigger than Olympus with more advanced technology... it wasn't true but that didn't matter. Being more powerful than your opponent rarely matters as much as people think."

"Probably helps," Bart commented.

Judith grabbed Bart's head from behind and messed up his hair. "Naive humans eh?" she asked. I rolled my eyes at the human saying this to a human. Yes, she was a banshee mutation, but she was still- sixteen. "Ever heard of Sun Tzu? Let's see. "If you know yourself and your enemy, you need not fear the outcome of a hundred battles. If you know only yourself and not your enemy, for every victory you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself you will succumb in every battle."."

"So..." Bart replied.

"So what if an enemy is unknowable?" Xao finished for him. "You could even win, but you wouldn't know you won."

"That's not fair," Bart noted with a smile.

"Not much in life is," I noted.

"No- not much is," came a voice. Around us a group of six biped creatures seemed to shimmer into existence, light suddenly bending around them as they appeared. They were not humanoid, however. They had long reptilian tales, bodies that extended diagonally from their hips and lizard-like heads with extended snouts. There were six of them, each holding weapons. The weapons had a simple design, two handles somehow attached by a green energy beam.

My eyes went wide. Where had they come from? My heart was racing... 'no... bite it down... you are in control.' "Why reveal yourselves leprechauns?" I asked. I held my hands in front of my stomach, not touching my weapons.

One of them spoke, his lips moving perfectly for human speech, with a kind of unnatural nasal quality. "Well first off, we were waiting for you to check your radar- we thought you already had and thus already knew about us."

Interesting that we had been discussing Triad history. I hadn't checked- but I wasn't telling them that. "Yep, coulda picked you guys off at any point. You sure you want this fight? We're all armed and trained fighters." Well, Jaden, myself, and Xao were armed but as to trained- probably true for everyone but Bart.

The speaker pointed at Bart. "Bluffing on him at least," he noted.

"I'm not bluffing on this, if we fight, pharaoh speed is far better than Leprechaun speed and werewolves are harder to kill than you'd think. We fight, some of you will die." I turned my right hand over, holding my left hand causally under it- I was really programming my magnet weapon as I spoke, but making sure to move so nonchalantly one wouldn't guess my movements had an intention. It would look to the normal person like I was just tapping the screen.

I did have a feeling my fingers were moving too fast- but I ignored it.

"If we fight ALL of you will die," the leprechaun leader retorted.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"The child we came for in the first place. He's ours by right of harvest. Had you not shown up..."

"The answer is no," I interrupted.

"Please?" The leprechaun said. "One or two of us MAY die if we fight. I know that. But the odds aren't in your favor pharaoh. Truth is, the meat of any or all of you can be traded back on our homeworld. We will harvest one of you- or all."