by Mark Albany
The emperor had reached the edge of the city before we had, interestingly enough, and was there to see the troops off as well. When he saw us, he didn’t try to stop us on our way, but he raised his hand in parting.
“Good journeys to you,” he said in that booming voice of his. “And good luck!”
I returned the gesture, having a feeling that we would need any luck that we could get.
6
The day progressed as we headed along the roads that the rest of the troops were going to be using as they moved further north. Part of the job that we had been entrusted with was to make sure that there weren’t any surprises waiting for the troops on the paths that we were using.
I wasn’t sure if we could guarantee that there would be nothing along the routes that could slow them down, but Norel was confident that she could sense the energy that was being used to control the beasts.
Besides, the massive golems that were leading them would not be hard to miss, and with the sheer weight of numbers that the troops were marching in, they would have little trouble finding a way out of any trouble that they would face.
I hoped, anyways. A delay in the whole force arriving to hold the position that they had been designated to would be a disaster, which was why they were spreading the scouting troops far and wide across the paths that would be taken to make sure that nothing foul befell them.
And we were one of those scouting parties. Most of those were an assembly of almost a dozen troops, of course, but the five of us were able to move faster than most of the others, as well as being able to pack a harder blow to any enemy forces that we encountered.
There were groups of refugees moving south as well, and those who could were giving food out to the troops that they passed as a way of saying thanks for helping to protect them. Those who tried to offer us the same were firmly denied. We needed the food less than the troops that were coming in behind us, and definitely less than the women and children that were pressing on southwards.
There were a few men in the mix as well, but not many were of fighting age, and those that were had armed themselves with spears, bows, axes, or anything that they could find to help defend the people that they cared about. Most were too young or too old to join the fighting forces anyways, since those that could had already left.
It was a heart-rending sight, to see so many displaced from homes that they had inhabited for generations. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for their plight, knowing that they weren’t as prepared for the fighting as we were.
There was a sense of dread coming from those that had been close enough to see the monsters that were nipping at their heels. Stories about how the creatures were tearing the land apart as they moved, making sure to ruin everything in their path felt like it was going to be something that the empire would never recover from.
The kind of cautionary tale that made one’s blood run cold, even though I was well aware of the dangers that we would be facing as we moved forward.
It wasn’t long after midday, after we’d had our meal right there on the saddle - or wolf, in Braire’s case - without having to stop, when we passed by the last of the troops that had been sent on ahead of the rest of the army. Those that knew us, mostly made up of the humans and elves who had fought alongside us in the previous battle for the Imperial City, raised their weapons and cheered as we passed.
They were as much heroes in that battle as we were but held little or none of the responsibility to stop Abarat that we did. I couldn’t help but feel a hint of sadness at seeing those heading towards the front line, trying to imagine that they would all make it away alive.
And knowing that it wasn’t likely to happen was a terrifying thought.
“Grant!”
I snapped out of the distracted state that I’d been in, looking up to see Faye waving her sword, now turned into a spear, around to catch my attention. When she saw she had it, the point moved forwards, where I could see a black splotch in the distance, following a group of refugees that were moving away from it.
It wasn’t hard to realize what that splotch was, and I heeled my horse into a gallop after the others, quickly catching up, dragging my sword clear of its scabbard as we bore down on the refugees.
They hadn’t been attacked yet, but even moving at the higher rate of speed, they wouldn’t be able to stay away from the monsters at their heels for too long. They were lucky that we happened to be travelling on the same road as them.
The anger and hatred that I had been struggling to push back down inside myself the day before suddenly jumped to the forefront of my mind, and I could already feel a burning in my left hand, and watched the runes light up in my sword as we rode clear of the refugees, slipping between them and the creatures attacking them.
“Go!” I roared as the refugees came to a pause, thinking that maybe they could help us.
All they saw were five strangers riding out between the monsters coming at them, not even armored like the rest of the army was. We were armed, but the same could be said of the group that had a couple of old axes and spears, and who were trying to help. They were quick to move back when they saw the glow coming from my blade as I turned back around, lightly jumping from my saddle and proceeding on foot.
In fairness, I could understand why they thought that we were out of our depth. I could see three golems marching forward, being followed by what looked like almost eighty of the undead, armed with swords and axes, although they didn’t appear to be wearing any armor.
I guessed that defense was never something that Abarat wanted them for.
My blade moved in a quick figure eight as I loosened my wrist, advancing on the creatures that showed no intention of stopping. There was no reason for them to. Faye moved in next to me, her weapon taking on the form of a sword again now that it was decided that we would be proceeding on foot, with Braire coming in behind us, ready to unleash her beasts. The wolf was ready to attack, and the serpent would be joining us shortly, I assumed.
Norel and Lyth took up the rear, with the latter quickly stringing her bow, and Norel gathering the power that she would need to support us.
I took a deep breath, hearing Lyth draw back on her bow and fire, taking one of the undead creatures down from fifty feet away. An impressive shot, one that we had come to expect from her at this point.
I took another deep calming breath, allowing myself to focus. It was still difficult, like I was missing something that had originally given me so much balance before, but now had me struggling to stay on my feet.
Thankfully, balance wasn’t what was required in this particular situation, as I drove myself forward, feeling a roar rumbling up from my chest as I did so, knowing that Braire and Faye were flanking me as I charged. The sight of Braire’s snake slithering forward still sent chills running up my back, but I had come to take that as a given. The creature was useful in the fight, and my own personal feelings regarding snakes could not interfere with that.
Power rushed into my sword, making the runes grow bright enough to obfuscate the details as I swung the blade forward. We were still about ten feet away from the first wave of monsters as they advanced on us, but the light lashed out from the sword, launching forward into the line of the undead as they advanced.
The sound of flesh being cut was followed by screeching from the creatures themselves as the raw power tore through them at around chest level, crushing their bones and tearing through the muscles and ligaments that they needed to move. Killing them wasn’t quite the word, but rather making them useless to the power that possessed them.
Either way, it made sense to me as the first line crumpled behind the blast of power, and even reaching into the following couple of lines behind them. Those that were untouched by the power that quickly dissipated, tripped over those that were fallen in front of them, opening them up for attacks from the serpent as it jumped forward, crushing and biting at the undead creatures.
I jumped over its thick body, using my sword to def
lect an attack from one of the closer beasts carrying a sword, quickly reversing my hold on the weapon and riposting to open up his throat before spinning around and burying my blade in the next comer’s chest.
It still tried to claw and lash out at me, but I pulled away, far enough that it’s fist and dagger would not reach me as I turned to face another creature that was rushing at me with an ax, raising my left hand while keeping the right on my sword.
The runes branded into my palm burned, and a blast knocked the creature back, crushing his skull and ribs and sending pieces of it flying into its comrades as I turned back to face the one that still had my sword in its chest.
A small burst of energy from the blade tore a hole through the creature, allowing me to pull my weapon clear without any resistance as the beast itself fell back to the ground, sizzling.
Braire and Faye charged in behind me, making equally quick work of the creatures that they encountered, with Faye taking advantage of the unique abilities of her blade to rip through a group of the creatures with powerful slashes, and Braire working in tandem with her beasts to remove the rest from contention.
It appeared as though the golems were withholding on joining the assault themselves, as they realized that they were the basis for controlling the masses that they were leading, and without them, there would be no coordination of the monsters.
An intelligent decision, all things considered. Abarat needed them in place to control his army, and so I could assume that it was his decision, and not that of the beasts themselves suddenly decided that they didn’t want to die.
Besides, letting us tire ourselves on the chaff until we were weakened to the point that the golems would be able to handle us did seem like a wise tactical approach, which required us to make some changes to our own tactics.
“Norel, Lyth!” I called, pulling away from the fighting for a moment. “Focus your attacks on the golems!”
I wasn’t sure if they could hear me but getting their attention and pointing at the beasts in question did seem to do the trick, as Norel started to gather her power once more, and Lyth fired her arrows at the hulking creatures of magic and clay.
As the beasts realized that they were under attack, they tried to move closer, trying to get involved in the fighting and get away from the bolts of lightning and arrows that were flying in their direction. One of them wasn’t quick enough as an arrow lanced through its throat, quickly followed by Norel launching a bolt at it and tearing the head clean off.
The other two tried to make their way towards Braire and Faye as the two were still in the thick of fighting the rest of the undead that remained. Between them and Braire’s wolf and serpent, whose names I still couldn’t commit to memory, there weren’t too many of the undead left. Less than twenty by my estimate.
But it looked like the golems were going to be an altogether greater challenge to face, especially as my four companions were still occupied in finishing the undead off.
The one that I could see bearing down on Faye looked to be unnoticed by the fae woman. Braire seemed similarly unaware that she was about to be attacked, but her beasts were quickly coming to her rescue.
I ran back into the fight, jumping over the fallen bodies as smoothly as I could while trying to keep up my speed. My muscles burned with the effort even as I filled my sword with power. I waited until the beast raised one of its club-like fists to attack Faye behind her back before slashing my blade forward, sending another wave of power to stop it.
The clay was not cut through like the undead had been. It was a weaker strike, I had to admit, but it was still enough to drive the beast a step back, allowing me enough time to close the distance between us.
It noted that I was coming to attack it just in time, raising its fist to block my swinging sword aimed for its head. The blow still sliced cleanly through its hand, severing it from the rest of the body, earning me a roar as the golem tried to recover. I couldn’t tell if it was pain or rage, but either way, I wasn’t going to wait for it to recover, quickly reversing my strike, slashing at its neck.
It stumbled backward to avoid being decapitated, and on regaining its balance, the golem roared again, rushing at me as I handily decapitated one of the undead on my way to engage the larger monster.
I sucked in an involuntary gasp as it moved faster than I was anticipating, already on me and swinging its maimed arm around like a club. More out of instinct than actual intention, I brought a shield up to protect myself from the strike, knowing even as it was formed that it would only be partially effective.
My hope was that the part that wasn’t blocked by the shield wouldn’t kill me
The block knocked me to the ground, and the breath out of my lungs as I kept on rolling, away from the hammering strike that was meant to crush me into the ground.
I managed to throw another shield up to deflect yet another attempt to crush me, this time with its feet as I came up to my own. I was still having trouble breathing, but the pain only fueled the fury rushing through my veins. I gripped my sword with both hands filling it with power, and launched another wave of white energy at the creature’s head.
It raised its hand to keep the strike from cutting into its head, but it was still forced a step back, giving me the opening that I needed.
A quick jump and a smooth, two-handed slash removed its arm from the shoulder, letting the hunk of clay drop heavily to the ground as I spun and drew the blade back as I passed by him.
I dropped to one knee, hearing the head dropping away from the body, which quickly followed.
Getting back up proved difficult, as the pain in my side continued even as I was able to breathe again. I needed to lean on my sword to finally regain my feet, looking around the skirmish. Braire was finished dealing with the undead and working to cut the head of her golem off, as the snake and giant wolf were pinning it down.
Faye, for her part, had finished dealing with the monsters that had been attacking her.
“I appreciate your help,” she said with a small smile. “But I believe I had it under control.”
I nodded. “Of course, you did. I just didn’t want to leave all the glory of dealing with the creatures to you lot.”
She smirked, but tilted her head, coming closer as she realized that I was clutching my side. “You’re hurt.”
“Just had the breath knocked out of me is all,” I replied, shaking my head. “The golem proved a little faster than anticipated.”
“Norel should take a look, and perhaps work her wonders to make sure that you’re ready to fight alongside us without any delay,” Faye said.
I wanted to say that I was fine but considering that it was starting to get difficult to breathe, I could only assume that something was wrong.
“Fine,” I grumbled. “Lead the way.”
7
I felt a little poorly for bothering and possibly draining Norel further after she had already expended a great deal of energy during the fighting, but as soon as she saw that I had managed to injure myself, she showed the same concern that Faye had.
“Let me look,” Norel said, quickly pulling my hand away and lifting my shirt up to look at where I had been injured.
“How domineering of you,” I said, trying to laugh but instantly regretting it.
I looked down at where she was looking and lightly running her fingers. I was sure that there was some kind of mystical property to her touch as I could feel a gentle and pleasant tingling spreading over my skin where she touched.
“Mostly bruises,” Norel determined. “But there are a few broken and cracked ribs that I can mend, if you’ll just hold still...”
“Why would I... fuck!” I exclaimed as cracking from where she was touching could be heard, a sharp pain filled my side as I tried to do as I was told and stay still.
She was repairing me, but it was a process that still hurt, even if she was making my body do the work in a few seconds that it would usually only perform over a period of weeks. I gritted my
teeth and closed my eyes, feeling her mending the ribs and other bits of me that had been injured.
The full minute that it lasted for was excruciating as she chanted softly in elfish, but once she was finished, I could see no sign that any injury had occurred except for a phantom pain that remained in the area.
“How are you feeling?” Norel asked, straightening back up.
“Not as good as the other times that you’ve laid hands on me,” I admitted, letting my shirt drop back down. “But overall, better than I was a minute ago.”
She smiled, leaning in to press a light kiss to my lips. “How did it happen, anyways?”
“I underestimated the speed of one of the golems,” I said, smiling at the kiss. “It caught me in the side. I managed to bring a shield up just in time to avoid being squashed, but it wasn’t enough to fully stop it.”
“Well, I’ve been saying for some time now that while your raw power is impressive, your technique still needs some refining,” she said, shaking her head and taking on the appearance of a stern teacher. “We’ll just have to work on that when we have time.”
“I think I’ll have plenty of opportunities to practice in the coming days,” I said as we started heading back to where our horses had been left behind.
Braire recalled the serpent back into its stone after petting it and scratching the top of its head, and she gave her wolf the same kind of treatment as we climbed up the small hill where our horses were waiting for us.
We mounted up again, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the north. From the elevated position, looking out over the landscape ahead of us, it was difficult not to see the opposing army that was coming our way. They were miles away still, a few days at least.
Considering that our advance troops were only a few hours behind us, they would be able to arrive and start setting the defenses up in advance of the rest of the army, as we were currently standing in the land that we would be trying to control for the battle.