“Yeah, you’re stupid.” He chuckled. “You would dare challenge the Children of Brindolla? Secure the children. If they get too close, slit a throat.”
Three of the guards began to back toward the fenced in area with the tarp and gate, but they forgot to look for any enemies there. That was what Craglim was there to capitalize on. From his hiding spot by some of the crates next to the pen, he loosed a war cry and began to glow red, his eyes turning solid crimson. “Come an’ get some, ye furry bastards!”
The rest of the game was up, and it was mayhem. Jaken kicked open the gates on his side of the fortress and bum-rushed the nearest guard with a shout and a crack of his shield across the man’s face. He turned and beelined for his weapon, still stuck in the fallen guard from the catwalk.
Jaken, bud, get to the kids. They have priority. Drop some Star Burst on ‘em, Yoh. I’m gonna get stupid here real fast. Stay away, all of you, I telepathically advised with our earrings and went to cast Fireball at the center of the group, but thought better of it. Instead, I cast Water Sphere.
To their credit, the guards moving forward tried to book it, but they weren’t fast enough. The spell burst into existence, and several of the guards were sucked into it with the sound of water dripping. Four of them were immediately trapped, and a couple others tried to escape, but their limbs had been sucked into the watery tomb. I cast Lightning Bolt after that, Kayda doing the same and fried several of them. After that, a small ball of black mana fell into the center of the group and detonated with a large THWUMPH!
After the spell’s detonation, arrows began to rain on the spot. The guards’ bodies littered the ground. The only ones standing after the onslaught were Cudgel and his buddy, whose name I would never care to know.
We have to give this guy a name, right? I mean he’s a complete asshole. Wait.
Perfect!
For the sake of clarity and because fuck him, let’s call him Asshole.
The other two guards who were getting the shit kicked out of them near the cage were good with just Craglim and Jaken beating on them, and it looked like Bokaj was helping by firing arrows to foil their movements. It wasn’t long before they were stepping over two broken men. They looked to be alive, I thought, but I wasn’t sure.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled ass kicking contest.
Cudgel and Asshole were almost untouched—not a piece of fur singed from Yohsuke’s spell, with just barely a drop of HP gone. And boy, were they smiling.
Wards? Yohsuke asked.
Probably enchantments too. I growled through our earrings. Looks like strong ones at that. Magic resistance most likely. Melee from here.
I summoned my great axe, Storm Caller, and planted my feet.
“That looks like a nice axe, fox.” Cudgel pointed with his weapon. “Would look great on the mantle. Along with your head. Fodder didn’t hold up the way we thought they would, but he didn’t seem to care much about them anyway.”
“I can’t seem to remember,” I planted the axe in the ground by the spike at the end, “was it you or Asshole there who pissed his pants when I sent you running last time?”
Asshole snarled and brought his longsword to bare on me. I snatched my weapon out of the dirt and whipped the handle between us, blocking his first slash.
Just as Asshole was about to disengage, a battering ram of fur hit him in the side and knocked him to the ground. Tmont had joined the party. She hissed and spit at him as he tried to raise his weapon to defend himself. The great cat would have none of it. She batted his arm down and slashed his armor and face. There was little damage being done.
I looked over to the side of the wall nearest Cudgel and smiled as I saw James perched on the catwalk.
James dropped on to the ground from above us and began to move in on Cudgel. The wolf seemed unthreatened as he pulled a bead out of his pocket and tossed it on the ground in front of the advancing Dragon Elf. James looked at it for a second, and when nothing happened, he stepped over it. As his foot cleared the bead, a large vine of ebony tore out of the ground and wrapped around his legs.
“Argh!” he shouted. “Fuck, this shit hurts!”
I stepped over and hacked at the base of the vine with my axe, having to trust that the others had my back. Last I saw, Yohsuke had been next to me, so I knew he would have me covered. Once James was free, a little lighter on health by 10%, I looked back to see that Cudgel had gone to try and aid his friend with Tmont.
The other two guards were moving now, barely conscious where Craglim and Jaken had left them. Seeing this, the wolf spoke a word as he tossed a bead at the two. Their health shot back up to full, and they leaped up from their backs to attack with more fervor than before.
“Look out!” Bokaj shouted from his overwatch position in a tree outside the wall.
Jaken turned in time to catch a sword on his shield and bat it away. The Dwarf rolled forward and tried to tumble into a fighting stance. It was… less than ideal. Probably a lot toward Dwarven grace. Sure.
“Kill them!” Cudgel shouted as he brought his weapon up for a strike on Tmont.
“I got him,” James hissed at me. “Go help the others. Bokaj, on me!”
Bokaj rained down hate and arrows at the guards, bringing them down slowly with carefully aimed shots to vital places, then alternated his fire to Cudgel and back to try and distract him.
Whatever had healed the guards had amplified their resistance to physical damage. I activated Wind Scythe, my ability that allowed me to more accurately throw my great axe, and sent it careening at the guard in front of Jaken. The axe connected, and I activated another spell—Blade Shift, a spell that acted as a minor teleport with the caster’s weapon as a focal point.
The world around me blurred, and suddenly, I had my weapon in my hand where it stuck from the guard’s back. I put my hand on the back of his head and cast Lightning Bolt. His body went rigid for a moment. Then Jaken stabbed him in the throat with his sword. His body fell lifeless to the ground. Jaken punched my arm lightly before he and Craglim began to work on the final guard, and I turned my sights back on Cudgel and Asshole.
After casting a few of my spells, I was still sitting at 335 MP. So, what do I do?
Oh? You guessed it, right? Tell me you guessed bear. You did? Yes! Good job, boys and girls—become a giant, angry, fucking bear, of course.
I shifted into my Ursolon form and began to close on Asshole from behind as the wolf did his damnedest to fend off Yohsuke’s barrage of swipes with his Astral Blade. While he ducked under a swift slice for his throat and juked back a step, I was able to dig my paws under his arms and around his chest. I lifted him bodily and smashed him into the wall beside me to our left. The damage was negligible at best. These resistances were starting to get really fucking annoying.
I heard Cudgel shout, “You think you can just hurt me with that pathetic hammer, little half-man? Your mother hit harder than that!”
Craglim howled mightily, and a flash of red crossed the fear-struck eye of Asshole in my grip as he tried to scramble away from me. His back was to me still, so I smacked him in the side of the head facing me with my massive forehead, then roared for all I was worth in his face.
“You get that side!” Jaken ordered behind me, and more grunting and cackling laughter came from Cudgel as he continued to taunt and belittle his opponents.
I began inspecting his armor until I found what I was looking for—runes in the chest. They weren’t ones I was familiar with, but I could guess that without the armor, he would be defenseless. He was struggling and kicking by this point, trying to escape the pressure on his back. He began to push, so I brought one of my serving platter-sized paws up and slapped his head against the wall. There was only a little damage done, but he was rattled, and I was still much stronger than him.
Back to the object of my discerning eye, though.
Sure, he was protected from damage by and large. That didn’t mean I couldn’t strip him of his armor. I took my ri
ght paw from his chest and began to feel along the sides of the leather chest piece for a seam or a buckle.
“Guch!” he choked. I had my left paw around his throat keeping pressure on him. He squirmed as he began to panic. “What are… you doin’?”
I opened my large jaws in front of his face and roared angrily. He gurgled as the pressure on his throat increased, but he stopped struggling as much. Finally, I found what I was searching for.
I sliced through the small leather clasp as if it were nothing thanks to my blessing from the Primordial Earth Elemental, Diamond Claws, and the chest piece loosened greatly.
“No, stop!” he tried to scream and kicked me hard in the chest. It hurt and did 10% of my health in damage, but a necessary evil.
I smacked him in the face until he struggled less, then switched paws and felt for the other strap on his armor. By this time I heard another shout behind me, rather than risk it, I kept looking. I found the other strap and snapped it.
I removed my paw and grabbed the edge of the chestpiece, removing it as he fell. My Diamond Claws pierced his fur and flesh with little resistance as I picked him back up. I turned around with him in my hand to find that my friends were holding their own against Cudgel. He was at three-quarters health. Jaken had taken some damage and was at about eighty percent health. James was hurt; another bead like the one that had held him earlier held him now, and he was trying to get it to let him go. He was a little over half health left.
Yohsuke and Bokaj were trying to land ranged attacks where they could, but Cudgel was deft at using Jaken as a shield.
Whoever had made their armor had been an exceptionally powerful enchanter with good materials.
“Hey, Cudgel!” Jaken shouted as the wolf tried to bare down on the trapped James. “Look who has your friend!”
“Like I would fall for th–” he started to retort but couldn’t finish. I had thrown Asshole, and he hit him straight on.
They fell into a heap, and when Cudgel saw his friend’s predicament, it was too late. Yohsuke and Bokaj filled him with so many arrows and astral bolts that he had no chance. By the time Cudgel fished a bead out of his pocket, Asshole was a pincushion, and we didn’t let that happen. James snatched it out of his hand and threw it over the wall as far as he could. An explosion rocked the sky above us.
Jaken hauled the perforated wolf off his friend and tossed him toward Yoh and me.
He wasn’t dead—but decidedly more porcupine than wolf at that moment. Cudgel made to try and help his friend, but James and Tmont blocked his path menacingly.
With me and Jaken serving as overwatch for him, Yohsuke bound Asshole’s hands behind him with some rope just to be safe. He was too out of it due to pain to fight back and resist.
I shifted back, cast Mass Regrowth on my friends, and watched. The 150 MP cost for the spell sucked, but I had recovered a little while in Ursolon form.
“Now, you’re next, little wolf,” I said finally. He stared at his friend.
While he’s distracted, hold him down and take off his armor. Quickly! I warned the others as they watched.
Jaken led my friends in the charge, smacking the wolf in the face and his friend in the shoulder. Before anything else happened, Jaken snatched Asshole by his shirt and hauled him off his friend, leaving the wolf exposed to us.
James finally managed to escape his vine prison and used a stunning Ki strike on Cudgel. While he was momentarily stunned, we grabbed him and held him down. His armor was identical to Asshole’s, so finding the straps was easier this time.
We stripped him of his gear and tied him down.
“What are you going to do with me, you outsider scum!” He spat on the ground in front of us.
“Well, you can tell me what I want to know without me having to beat the shit out of you,” Yohsuke replied almost cheerfully, “or—and this is the fun part—I get to beat the shit out of you. Well, what do you choose?”
“I’ll die first,” he growled.
“Well guys, you heard him.” Yohsuke sighed dramatically. “He wants this ass whooping.”
Well, while beating his ass would be delightful, he would just take it and die, doing what he had said he would. It would be a waste of time, and we couldn’t afford that if any of the blood I had used to track them here wasn’t theirs.
Those kids needed us, Balmur needed us because there was no way we were strong enough right now for the Hells, especially if these two fuckwits were any kind of example.
As I watched them pull the rest of Cudgel’s armor off his body and my introspection reached a fever pitch, the red ring of my rage returned and pulsed enticingly.
Now, normally I’m a nice guy. I have my moments, sure—who doesn’t? But these guys had royally pissed me off.
“There’s no need to waste your time, brother,” I said, patting him on the shoulder lightly. “They see us as monsters? Let’s give them what they want, shall we?” Yoh looked at me in confusion before knowing dawned on his face, and the questions in his expression were ones I was going to have to deal with. “I’ll be in control, but do me a favor? Hold my morals for a bit.”
I reached into myself and pulled out the beast that had been peeking out of me every time I got angry since before our return from the Fae Realm. A flash of muted light later and I suddenly stood seven feet tall. My fur, half black and half white almost perfectly on each side with white on the left, black on the right. My Werewolf hybrid form was like this. I looked down at the quivering wolf before me and growled. Menacingly.
“If he won’t tell us willingly, I could turn him and make him my bitch for the rest of his unnaturally long life.” I stepped forward until I towered over Asshole, then reached down and grabbed the ropes that held him.
“Yo, Zeke, man, you good?” I heard James ask, but Yohsuke stepped over to him and shook his head.
Jaken was on high alert, and Bokaj was still in the trees, so I couldn’t see him in my peripheral vision like the others.
I picked him up, and he began to scream. I cupped his lower jaw with my right hand and let my claws pierce his skin slightly. I looked over at Cudgel who watched with open-faced horror on his face.
“Speak, or I kill him,” I said softly with no growl or anger. Just truth. “Why did you kidnap the children? What did you hope to gain? And who do you work for?”
“Mnff!” Asshole wept openly, but his jaws weren’t able to move from my grasp. I felt a probing from Kayda through our connection, and I locked myself down tight. This needed to happen. I needed to be strong for this.
Cudgel clamped his jaws shut with an audible, final clack of teeth. I grimaced, looked at Asshole, and stared him in the eyes as I took my left hand and grasped him by the throat, lifting him higher into the air so that his body was between Cudgel and me.
The wolf in my grip struggled, and that excited the lycanthrope in me to no end, almost sickeningly gleeful to have something fighting us so. The red around my vision returned and threatened to take over, but I growled and fought it back.
I sighed, and with a roar of both anguish and rage, slammed my right hand through Asshole’s body and tore his heart from the veins inside it. The floundering thing was held in my grasp on the other side of his corpse for all to see.
Jaken vomited. The others cursed vehemently, “Fuck, Zeke, fuck. Stop this, man.”
“Go check on the kids, Jaken. James, go with him to see if the coast is clear there,” I issued the order as the alpha would. No argument. No requests. Just orders.
They left quickly and ducked into the tarp-covered area.
I brought my right arm down, and the corpse slumped off of it to the ground with a sickening thud before I stalked closer to Cudgel. I leaned down close to his face and forced him to look me in the eyes by grabbing his lower jaw firmly with my bloodied hand.
“Tell me what we want to know, or I will do the same to you.”
He looked me in the eyes, and I let him see that I had gone to that quiet place, that de
ep-dark of reality. He knew I would hold true to my word.
“We were ordered to if you ever came back,” he said quickly. When he spoke, I let his jaw go, so he continued, “If you left, we would have kept our word, but we would have tried to turn the village and other places against you in hopes you would leave us. I don’t know who we work for, but they are powerful. They gave us these items and taught us their ideals by letter. They told us the perfect way to gain strength quickly. For that, we didn’t question them.”
“Killing folk that don’t hold to the ideals that we do.” I motioned with my bloody hand for him to go on. “We receive missives, and they tell us where to go and hunt them down. And no, we burn them once we understand them.”
I tossed the heart in my hand aside numbly, detaching myself from the action I had just performed.
“How many of you are there?” James asked as he walked toward us. “Kids are okay. Jake should be out in a minute or so.”
“I don’t know,” he answered. He seemed to believe it.
“What was it you called yourselves?” Yohsuke asked.
“The Children of Brindolla.” When we didn’t interrupt him, he spoke with more venom, “We are the true saviors of this world. You have no stake here. You don’t belong. You hurt our way of life by being here.”
“I don’t know who the fuck lied on us like that, but we’re here to stop War and his fucking assholes so that our own world is safe. We want to be friends with you fucking people, but you did this. You brought this hate about—not us. We just want to go fucking home!” James spat on the ground and looked away, unable to control his emotions in the moment, it seemed.
“Liars!” Cudgel’s eyes took on a zealous gleam. “We are the only ones capable of defeating War’s hordes! The true Children of Brindolla! Not some pathetic outsiders.” With the last sentence, he spat at my face, but I ducked it.
“I see.” I growled. “Well then, anyone else have any questions?”
The others thought a moment, then shook their heads.
Into the Dragon's Den (Axe Druid Book 2) Page 8