Around the side of the house, the roof descended close to the street. I jumped, just catching the edge of it with my fingertips, and hauled myself up. From there I climbed until I was near the roof’s peak, where I knelt and readied my bow. I took half the arrows from my quiver and jammed them into the soft wooden shingles of the roof. Another I held loose in my right hand, ready to fire.
The sun had been down for nearly an hour when we heard them.
First there were cries of alarm from the north end of town. The guards on the walls had seen them. We had left the gates open. There was no point in closing them when the vampires could leap over them anyway.
The cries of alarm spread, coming from different directions but always moving south towards us. That was good. It meant the vampires were not stopping for anything, and none of the townsfolk had been drawn into fights. The battle would happen here, in the street in front of the hideout, as we had planned.
And then, at last, we saw them.
Two of the pallid, twisted, screeching creatures burst into sight at once, a distance down the street straight ahead. One had a narrow, jutting jaw and teeth that stuck out from between its lips, and the other had massive arms, thicker than my legs. For half a heartbeat they paused, sniffing at the air.
“Biter,” I called down to Mag, pointing to one and then the other, “and Shoulders.”
She glared up at me. “They are not pets.”
“Oh, come now. Would you not love to take one home?”
The beasts focused on the door of the hideout, and on Mag standing before it. She hefted her spear. Oku bristled and growled.
The vampires screamed with fury and hunger as they charged.
My right hand moved in a blur, nocking, drawing, loosing. They did not expect the first arrow, but my aim was imperfect. The arrowhead nicked Biter in the arm, but no wood pierced its flesh, and it hardly seemed to feel it. After that they kept an eye on me, and they dodged every shot.
In no time they had reached Mag, and a deadly dance started on the street. By Mag’s side, Oku snapped and snarled as he tried to catch hold of Shoulders, but it moved too quickly. Mag slashed and weaved, looking for an opening. The vampires kept trying to push past her, attempting to reach the building, but she managed to stop them. Twice when they tried it, she scored a hit with her spearhead, but not deep enough for the wood to penetrate the skin.
In the space of a few moments, I realized I would not be able to get a clean shot from my position on the roof. I scanned the streets all around the building instead—when more vampires came, I would be Mag’s first warning. And the other townsfolk—not to mention the constables—should be coming soon, once the rest of the vampires arrived.
But in watching the streets, I forgot the rooftops.
I caught a flash of moonslight on Elf-white skin. That was the only warning I had before the vampire launched itself through the air, flying from the next rooftop onto my own. I managed to catch its wrists and keep its claws from sinking into my chest, but the momentum bowled me over. We tumbled back onto the rooftop, sliding down the wooden shingles, which shook me hard enough to jar my very bones.
At last I managed to tumble, kicking the vampire off me and slowing my headlong descent. I had my sword in hand before I got to my feet, and I fell back into a defensive position. My bow was up near the roof’s peak, useless, but I had a few arrows left in my belt quiver. Slowly I drew one, trying not to move suddenly and provoke an attack. The vampire hissed, but it hesitated, studying me through its beady black eyes. A mottled pattern of black spread across its face, outwards from the nose like someone had thrown an ink pellet straight between its eyes.
“Inkstain,” I told it. “That is what I will call you.”
Inkstain snarled and lunged just as I got the arrow into my hand.
Twice I fended it off with my sword, trying desperately to find a chance to sink the arrow into one of its swiping limbs. It was impossible. The creature’s speed was beyond comprehension. The only thing that saved me was that it recognized the danger of the wooden arrow, and that made it cautious in its attacks. I could not begin to understand how Mag managed not only to match them, but beat them. It took all my mind’s panicked, animal instincts just to keep me out of reach of its claws.
Then a shingle gave out under Inkstain’s feet. It went crashing down, and it grabbed wildly for something to hold onto.
“Something” turned out to be my leg.
We slid down the roof again, and this time we could not stop our descent before we pitched over the edge. I went over first. For one moment I knew weightlessness. My heart felt as though it wanted to pound my guts until they were unconscious. Then I came slamming down on top of a market stall that had been set up against the side of the building. The cloth enveloped me, breaking the fall.
I scrambled out of the tattered, brown fabric just in time. Inkstain came down right where I had been. The market stall collapsed, and the vampire vanished amid the cloth. Its screams redoubled as it thrashed. I saw a clawed hand burst out of the fabric.
Abandoning my sword, I took an arrow in each hand and leaped, plunging them into the flailing mass. Both darts bit flesh, and Inkstain’s screams turned from rage to pain. One iron-hard limb smashed into my head, and I fell back onto my rear, my ears ringing.
Fire flashed in my eyes as a torch came sailing through the night. It struck the fabric of the market stall, which caught almost at once. The flames licked and spread, and soon the whole stall was ablaze. Inkstain shrieked and shriveled. What skin I could see blackened and twisted, and soon the cloth stopped moving altogether.
I looked up in shock. Yue stood there, huffing in her armor and with a nasty bruise on one cheek. She extended a hand without speaking, and I took her help to stand.
“Mag needs us,” she said.
“Take me,” I said, and followed her at a dead run towards the front of the building.
With the crystal clarity of her battle-trance, Mag saw it when Inkstain bounded over the street to go after me, but Biter and Shoulders kept her too occupied to spare much attention. She trusted me to handle myself, and she kept fighting, kept trying to impale one of the vampires with the wooden haft of her spear. There were only two. She was unlikely to get a better chance.
Then a fresh roar announced the arrival of a third. It sailed through the air, limbs outstretched and rotten teeth bared. On instinct, the other vampires skittered away from it, hissing in anger as it landed between them. The distraction gave Mag a moment to recover, bringing up her shield and facing off against the trio, eyes darting back and forth between them. Oku edged to her side, growling and panting at the same time. The wolfhound was growing weary from trying to keep out of the vampires’ grasp.
This new vampire was larger than the others, its limbs even thicker than Shoulders’ were, but all in proportion. As it stalked towards her, Biter and Shoulders drew back from it, glancing at it in subservience. They had encountered it before, clearly, and they had not enjoyed the experience.
King. Mag named it in her mind without even thinking. And then, behind her battle-trance, the part of her mind that could still feel had the thought, I am going to punch Albern.
Thoughts danced in her mind, far-off music in the calm of her trance. Three vampires before her, and one on the roof. That left one still unaccounted for. And where on earth were the rest of the townspeople? Some of them should have arrived by now, at least.
And then the vampires attacked again, and even her background thoughts vanished.
Her one saving grace against the beasts was that the vampires were clearly unused to fighting together. They were loners, never hunting in packs, and so they had no idea how to approach in a coordinated fashion. For one moment Mag’s mind flashed with an image of Victon, her old sergeant, drilling the vampires and teaching them to operate as a unit. If not for the trance, she would have laughed out loud.
Yet the same thing that made them unable to work together also kept her from su
rprising any of them. When she fought one of them, the other two did not wait idly, thinking their fellow would surely bring her down. They waited for their own chance to fight, and as soon as Mag turned on them, they reacted quickly enough that they almost seemed to be expecting it. She knew she could push herself harder, further, than any person she had met, but if she never managed to bring them down, even her trance would wear out eventually.
Then there came a great commotion from down the street. Mag withdrew by one pace and glanced over the heads of her opponents at the source of the disturbance. King and the other vampires, too, glanced behind to see what was happening.
The final vampire came skidding into the street, crouched on all fours, hissing and spitting. Behind it, from side streets and alleys, came pouring a flood of townsfolk—nearly two dozen of them, and all armed with weapons and torches. Immediately they formed up facing the vampire, thrusting their steel and their flames towards it. The vampire shrieked and swiped at them, but the townsfolk stood strong together, giving it no chance to reach them.
All this Mag saw in a flash, and then she tried something new. Throwing her arms wide, spear pointing one way and shield another, she gave a battle-roar that shook the walls of the buildings around her.
The attention of Biter, Shoulders, and King snapped back to her at once. Biter jumped forth, matching Mag’s pose and scream of defiance. For one heartbeat they faced each other, roaring in hatred, neither willing to back down.
Mag caught just a glimpse of brown fur as Oku saw his chance and lunged. His teeth sank into Biter’s throat. It gave a warbling cry and tried to swipe at Oku, but the hound kicked off its chest and swung, avoiding the blow.
Mag’s spear pierced Biter’s eye and drove all the way through the back of its head.
The vampire’s body went slack in an instant. Blackness spread from around the haft of her spear, rippling through the vampire’s body until it looked burned.
But with her strike, she had opened herself to an attack. King seized the opportunity, and Mag barely got her shield up in time. The blow was heavy enough to break her arm if she had taken the brunt of it, but Mag managed to turn it. Still, it flung her through the air, and she slammed hard into the side of the Shades’ hideout.
Oku darted to her side, snarling and bristling as he turned to face the vampires again. But the vampires could not have cared less about him. Ignoring both Mag and the hound, they rushed the building’s front door and vanished inside. The last vampire, brought to bay by the townsfolk, gave up the fight and joined its fellows, running into the hideout and disappearing from view.
Mag seized Oku’s fur and used him to help pull herself up. Oku whined and licked her hand, but Mag was already searching for signs of me. Just then, Yue and I came rushing around the corner of the building. Relief must have been obvious on my face as I ran and embraced her, for Mag gave a cold smile.
“Were you worried about me?” she said tonelessly.
“I should have known better,” I said, looking at Biter’s corpse. “You got one, then.”
“And you? I saw it come for you, but I was distracted.”
“I killed it,” I told her. “Or rather, we did.” I motioned towards Yue, who came to us, frowning.
“The others?” she said.
“All inside,” said Mag. “Only three left now. It will be harder to fight them in an enclosed space, but I think we can do it.”
Yue’s eyes widened, and she looked up at the house. “Why risk it? Burn them instead.”
Mag looked at me, frowning. “That could work. Unless they escape the flames.”
“We will surround the house.” Without waiting for another word from us, Yue turned to the townsfolk, who had gathered a few paces away. “Torches! Throw them into the building and onto the roof! Burn it down! And guard it against their escape!”
They obeyed her at once, flinging their torches at the building in great, fiery arcs. Some bounced from the walls or rolled off the roof, but many flew in through open windows or rolled to a stop on the shingles, which began to smoke and smolder. Soon, what looked like a dozen small fires burned through the house. Smoke began to leak out from the windows of both floors.
Yue strode to the front door, which still hung open, and turned to face us. “We three should spread out and guard the easiest exits,” she said. “We cannot let them escape. Hopefully the cauldron keeps them busy enough that—”
We had no warning. There was a shattering cry, and then, faster than a blink, pallid, clawed limbs shot out of the doorway. They seized the back of Yue’s armor and dragged her into the house before she could even scream.
We did not stop to think. We rushed in after her. It took Oku a moment to brave the flames, but after a few furious barks, he charged in behind us.
By the time we got inside, the vampire had already vanished from the front room. The left and right doors were both open, giving no clue as to where it had gone. Smoke made the room hazy, and the flames licking at the outside of the building lit our way.
“I do not hear her,” I said. “Which way do we go?”
“Split up,” said Mag, her voice still a monotone. “I can trust you to stay alive if you take Oku with you?”
“We shall see. Oku, tiss.”
The wolfhound ran by my side as I darted to the right and through the door, sword in one hand and an arrow in the other. I did a quick search, looking behind the furniture, but found nothing. Suddenly Oku eyed the door to the next room and started bristling. I heard a sharp cry.
That was good enough for me. I ran and threw my shoulder into the door, and it burst open.
There on the floor lay Yue. Above her crouched a vampire—the final, unnamed one. She had one of its arms by the wrist, barely keeping it away from her face. The other hand was clamped over her shoulder, and the claws were digging into the armor. The vampire hissed and drooled, gobs of its saliva dripping onto Yue’s face, which twisted in pain from the creature’s grip.
Oku snarled and attacked. His teeth penetrated the vampire’s leg before the creature could react. It shrieked and released Yue’s shoulder, but she did not slacken her grip on its other hand.
I shoved my sword through its back. It reared up, screaming in pain, and I jammed my arrow into the back of its neck. Its scream cut off at once, and its free claws scrabbled at its own throat, trying to pluck out the deadly dart. Yue shoved hard, and the vampire fell sideways off her, wide, black eyes spinning in their sockets. As we watched, it curled up on itself, its skin going black.
“Are you all right?” I said, helping Yue to her feet.
“Shoulder, and the smoke,” she said, coughing heavily. “But I will survive. Mag?”
“Looking for you as well. We split up.”
“That was idiotic.”
I raised my eyebrows. “My apologies, constable. We would have consulted you on the rescue plan, were you not the one we planned to rescue.” I pulled up my shirt, covering my mouth against the smoke, which was growing ever thicker. Flames were now licking at the edges of the room’s window.
Yue ignored my words. “The vampires were going mad,” she said. “They were tearing the place apart, trying to get at the chamber beneath the house. But their claws seemed unable to penetrate the floor. I do not know why. It looks like simple wood.”
“Enchanted, likely,” I said. “Many mysteries, and little time. Come. Let us find Mag.”
We ran towards the back of the room, where another door would lead us to the back of the house. I lifted the latch and pulled on the handle.
THOOM
An explosion launched me backwards. I struck Yue, and we both came down hard on the floor. Oku yelped and scuttled away. I pushed up on my elbows, groaning. The back room roared with flames. They had gathered, waiting for a fool to come and open the door, and I had proven to be just such a fool.
“Mag could have been in there,” I grunted, struggling to my feet.
“If she was, she is dead,” said Yue, tak
ing my arm. “But I think she is smarter than that. Come. To the other side of the house. If she lives, she will need us.”
Together we ran back the way I had come, circling around the house the long way.
When I ran right, Mag went left. She sped through into the second room with the secret entrance to the underground chamber. Half of it was aflame, and the smoke was thick and black.
And there she found the vampires—Shoulders and King, the only two left.
For a heartbeat, the creatures did not seem to notice her. Both were screaming and tearing at the floor, but their claws did not so much as scratch it. That was strange, but Mag had no time to think about it. The creatures noticed her, and they wheeled around to attack.
She fought only two now, not the three she had faced outside. But the room’s small size constrained her. As she dodged and turned, her cloak kept striking the walls and furniture. Pushing the vampires back with a wild swipe, Mag reached up with her shield and undid the clasp. The cloak fell to the floor. That was better, but not enough to give her the advantage. Her spear strikes had to be somewhat restrained, or she risked striking the walls and knocking herself off balance.
Mag switched her strategy, pressing in closer and using the spear more as a staff. It brought her within reach of the vampires’ claws, and she had to block them both with the spear haft and the shield. But with a clever twist, she managed a solid kick into Shoulders’ chest.
Shoulders flew away, tumbling over the back of a chair that had caught on fire. The flames erupted across the vampire’s skin almost instantly, and it shrieked and tried to bat at them even as its back slammed into the tapestry on the wall.
The vampire was so busy with the flames, it did not see Mag launch herself through the air. Her spear impaled it through the chest and sank deep into the wall behind. The wood and flames spread through Shoulders together, and it died with black blood dribbling from its jaws.
The Tales of the Wanderer Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 4) Page 25