Deadly Wands by Brent Reilly

super-quads challenging him
between him and the high-altitude battalion. Or what was left of
it. As the battalion circled around, so did the Baron, striking his
challengers like notes in a song. It looked like someone was
throwing bodies off a cliff.
    Genghis sighed and shrieked “attack.”
Thousands of nearby quads looked at him confused. He gave the order
again and half a million quads launched. A minute later the Khan
saw that the battalion had broken into companies, which finally
drove the bastard away. As a parting shot, he fired four fireballs
at Genghis’ tent before venting one last primal scream.
    The Baron would soon release a video, in his
deep baritone voice, bragging that he killed a thousand Mongols
that night. Genghis recognized juicy propaganda when he saw it, and
couldn’t benefit by saying the Baron only killed half that
many.
    As soon as half a million Mongols flew over
the horizon to drive off the Baron, a few dozen American battalions
appeared to drop bombs on the Mongols too tired to fly. They
pounded the weak, wounded, and ill for the hour it took for the
half a million to return. They found their supplies, tents, and
comrades burned. What really alarmed Genghis is that they targeted
his food stores.
    Not long after the Mongols landed to eat,
drink, and sleep, even more American units bombed them from high
altitude, then dived to shoot up whatever Mongols rose to contest
the skies. Apparently those who just left landed to enjoy
breakfast, knowing other battalions would attack the enemy at dawn.
Together they stayed for several hours, denying the Mongols sleep,
until other Americans arrived to replace them.
    Although always outnumbered, the Americans
could fly higher, and then target any Mongols capable of reaching
their ceiling. Then the next highest-flying enemies. Soon the
armada lost everyone who could fly high, which let the Americans
shoot them with relative impunity. This is why William wanted the
highest fliers farthest north, to weed out the Mongols with the
highest ceiling. As the armada crawled south, Americans with lower
ceilings could still fight with relative impunity. The Americans
owned the sky.
    Mongol divisions successfully chased some of
the American battalions to their hidden bunkers. The battalion
would fight from their bunkers and either wait for help or do it
themselves after a refreshing nap. Without bombs, the Mongols
couldn’t break through to flush them out.
    The armada pushed on, pounding Anchorage with
savage glee. Unfortunately, Anchorage was built with punishment in
mind, so this bombardment did little more than remind Mongols of
the futility of striking the same target every year. An army of
two-wanders controlled hundreds of bunkers connected by hardened
tunnels, while a division of quads escaped from hidden openings to
blast Mongols whenever they slept. Mongols would find no food,
shelter, or safety near Anchorage. William would later fund its
reconstruction as a much larger planned city with an improved
harbor.
    Genghis had assumed he could forage, but the
Americans had killed everything worth eating. It disturbed him to
see his troops excited over spearing a rabbit. The burden of
finding food turned their sprint into a stroll. William feared the
armada would not even reach San Francisco.
    Genghis realized too late his invasion was
doomed. They bombed him every night so the Mongols couldn’t rest,
and harassed them from unreachable heights during the day. Tired
troops travel slow and fight poorly. Unlike the Mongols, the
Americans enjoyed warm shelter, hot food, and could sleep
safely.
    As William predicted, the armada moved south
along the coast. Genghis desperately needed to eat, so William’s
three divisions hunted those units sent to hunt, fish, and forage.
The Americans already evacuated every fishing village, leaving the
Mongols nothing.
    When the Khan sent ten divisions after them,
William lured them away by staying just out of range. After a few
hours, the