by Elian Tars
“Berg!” I shouted, turning my head to the archer. Knowing what I wanted, he began to give orders to our warriors.
The gas hadn’t dissipated yet, so we all continued to wear the protective bands. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough bands left for the Ishirians. We put the surrendered enemies in shackles made of magic-blocking iron, heaps of which were brought in by the mercenaries.
We didn’t worry about the lives of the captives. Anur-Sin said that the gas wasn’t lethal. Open to cooperation, he even revealed the location of the treasury.
Having analyzed the assault of Al-Harum, I concluded that the enemy had never thought of fleeing. They evacuated the “civilians” to avoid collateral damage and fake a retreat. Even if Kane hadn’t felt the energy of the people that were fleeing underground, we would’ve still noticed the empty houses. Their next step was to release the gas and win without having spilled blood. They hadn’t done so at the very beginning because they knew that the absence of their army would raise suspicion. It seemed that Anur-Sin sacrificed part of his army for the sake of a bigger and almost bloodless victory. He thought that he’d destroy at least half of our soldiers (I assumed that keeping too many prisoners alive was too dangerous for a small town), imprison the other half and demand ransom for them. The friends and relatives of the mercenaries would pay for them. As for us… Well, he thought that somebody would pay for us, too.
However, his plan went down the drain. No one could expect that my soldiers and I would be immune, even partially, to the Datura. Anur-Sin tried to finish what he had started, but having realized that he wouldn’t be able to win, he decided to surrender. A wise choice. When Horn asked me what I’d do with the prisoners I told him that I’d let them go. My goal wasn’t to capture the city and start a war with Ishiria. We’ve already given the citizens of this country enough reasons to smack us back. There was no need to escalate the conflict further. Sparing them would be a gesture of goodwill. Though, sometimes, it seemed to me that these words didn’t mean anything in this world.
To be quite honest, I simply didn’t have the time to deal with the captives and look for those who’d pay ransom for them. We were short on time and we couldn’t spend what little of it we had on dealing with dead weight.
“Thane, Ken, we have news.” Tia came to us. Her face was smeared with blood, but it she didn’t seem to mind it at all. She was grinning from ear to ear, flashing her pearly whites, and clearly enjoying life.
“Speak,” Horn allowed.
Tia slicked back her black hair. Materializing her wineskin, she gave her report.
“Well, you know how it goes — if you want to find things, ask the people. We talked to a few guardsmen. We asked them why they ran, how were they so fast, have they been preparing for this... Things like that.” She drank some wine. I felt impatience dancing in my chest, but I tried to look calm. “In short, they had been preparing. But not for our arrival. For the Decay.”
“I knew it!” Horn smacked his knee with all his might. “It was too easy!”
“Yeah...” Tia nodded and drank again.
Well, everybody had felt that something was wrong, and now everything clicked into place.
“Berg! Ken! Hurry your people!” I told the two and then turned to Horn to ask another question. However, I didn’t get a chance to do so — Erg was running to us at full speed.
“Sir Senior Disciple!” he blurted out. “The treasury is empty! They showed us the right place, there’s no doubt about it, the room definitely had defenses, but the door, thick as three gates, was wide open and there was nothing inside!”
“Decay damn them!” Tia cursed. “They were going to leave the city, so they took everything they could with them!” She glanced at me. “It’s good that you sent your people to catch up with the refugees.”
“Anur-Sin is leading us up the garden path, after all,” I said coldly. “What does he plan to achieve?”
“I have an idea…” Horn scratched his beard irritably.
“Ken!” Kane suddenly exclaimed. With the extremely worried Mara at his heels, he quickly approached us.
“What now?” I tried to suppress my annoyance.
“The Decayed are approaching,” he said curtly. “They’re coming from the south. Fast. They’ll be here very soon.”
I fell into deep thought, trying to go over the new information and make a decision. Horn rushed to his horse and jumped into the saddle.
“Housecarls! Take everyone to the southern wall! Quickly! You,” his gaze stopped at Bernard, “you’ll stay here with your hird and guard the captives. You’re under Kane’s command!”
Bernard frowned like a child whose toy had been taken from him, and nodded silently. Horn then spurred his horse and rushed toward the south gate, giving orders on the way.
“Tilda! Send people to close the eastern gates! Leave them there as a reserve! Ken, tell your loot collectors to use the secret passage upon their return! Be quick about getting what you’ve came for! We won’t be able to stall for long!”
I looked at Horn’s retreating back with admiration. He had allowed me, his client, to command, but when shit hit the fan, he didn’t hesitate to take command. And how quickly and precisely he gave orders! I had much to learn from him.
“Kane, I leave you here as a commander. You’re also responsible for communication and surveillance.” Kane sighed tiredly and silently nodded. “We’ll go with Berg and Kazimir’s teams to help Horn. Unlike us, the Followers of Noriduel aren’t immune to the Decay.”
I called Vella, jumped on her back, and led my small army after the mercenaries. My brain was boiling. Did Horn’s people not meet anyone during their four-day long trip through Ishiria because the locals were preparing for evacuation? Maybe they had already left their houses? Or worse, shared the same fate as the people of Ekheim?
The Decay was consuming our continent from all sides. It was moving from the coasts to the centre. The south of Ishiria had been lost long ago, and Al-Harum was pretty close to the border of the dead lands.
And again, the speed with which the Decay was spreading was worse than anyone could’ve ever imagined.
I hoped that we’d be able to retrieve the Part of Zurtarn in time…
What should I do next? Greiv’s fifty soldiers and Hask’s pack must’ve already found the tunnel’s exit and caught up with the refugees. I hoped that they’d give us the treasury’s contents without asking too many questions. I couldn’t help but wonder if the people of Al-Harum will be able to hide from the Decay. Then again, the last thing I cared about was what would happen to them. The Old Man and I could teleport the Followers of the God of Darkness, but what would we do with the mercenaries? Should I tell Horn to run to the north? That was a good plan — the locals would be a human shield that’d separate them from the Decayed…
The thought disgusted me. I really didn’t want the Al-Harumians to become food for the Decayed. Ekheim… One could wish such fate only to an enemy. And even though we had sieged their city now, they weren’t my enemies. I could offer them to swear their loyalty to the God of Darkness... This was, in my opinion, better than being torn to shreds by monsters.
My army finally reached the southern walls. I shook my head to clear my mind and looked up — most of the mercenaries had already scaled the wall. About 150 of them were waiting on the sand dunes to the left of us, frowning, and drinking from their wineskins. They were standing about a hundred feet away from the wall. A few dozen more were peeking from behind the houses.
“Kazimir, stay here for now,” I ordered. “Don’t come too close to the gates and walls. Berg, come with me.”
Although there wasn’t much free space on the walls, we still rode up the stone stairs to get there faster. I dismounted only when we got to the very top.
“Go back to Kazimir,” I ordered the animals. “There won’t be enough space for you here.”
Vella and the Wolf trotted back unwillingly.
I pushed my way through th
e mercenaries to the front lines and cursed. A myriad of giant beasts — black Scorpions, Salamanders, Snakes and other desert monsters — was rolling in like a tidal wave toward the city.
“Just so you know, you’ll have to pay extra for this,” Horn chuckled.
I glanced sideways at him. He looked different… Tense, maybe… His fingers, clutching a long, composite bow, had turned white. Of course! He probably didn’t often fight against the Decayed!
“No problem,” I replied. “You did right to leave so many people down there. The walls won’t protect us from the Warriors of Decay.”
Horn smiled a little and looked at me with respect.
“The Great One told me the same,” he said, not hiding that Noriduel had helped him with arranging the troops.
“Your men,” I nodded at the mercenaries on the wall, “do they know that they’ll have to climb down very soon?”
“Of course,” he answered.
“My thane, they’re close,” Tilda reminded and grabbed his ass. That was a very strange thing to do, but the Followers who saw that began to chuckle. Horn also seemed to have relaxed a little. Coming to the edge of the wall, he pulled the bowstring.
“My brothers and sisters!!!” he roared. “We’ll have just a few seconds to thin out their ranks. Be quick! And don’t act heroically!”
Unclenching his fingers, he released an arrow, which pierced through the head of the most eager Salamander with a whistle.
I couldn’t tell if I was of any use — I was pulling the trigger of the Fast Shooting Master’s Crossbow tirelessly, automatically materializing crossbow bolts in my hand and loading the weapon. Unfortunately, I lacked the special skills that the archers had.
Despite all that, I was still in the right place — watching our army defend the city walls from the Decayed from the front lines was a valuable experience.
The hail of arrows and crossbow bolts that hit the monsters looked impressive. I noticed that the Decayed were being strategic again (that is, their Mothers were). While one group of monsters was rushing the city walls, another group was forming Warriors from a relatively safe distance.
At first glance, their approach seemed almost foolish. It would’ve made more sense for them to have formed the Warriors before even coming here. In that case, we would’ve focused our attention and strength on the most dangerous enemies and used the special, far-range skills of our archers on them. If we did that now and stopped killing weaker enemies, they’d climb the walls.
The Decayed were falling like flies, but they were still gradually advancing. The Warriors rushed forward in unison, trampling the dead and wounded bodies of their comrades.
“Grenades!!!” Horn shouted.
The mercenaries, Berg and I immediately put away our weapons and began throwing grenades. This method was efficient, but dangerous, as there was a good chance of bringing down the wall you were standing on.
However, right now, nobody cared about such a thing. The wall was doomed anyway.
Enveloped in a flame that was eating away their flesh, several giants froze in their tracks. That’s the effect of that orange phial! I recalled. Someone must’ve thrown several of those at once. I wondered how big the bill would be…
We mauled the Warriors and turned most of the weaker of the decayed beasts into minced meat.
“Leave!!! Quickly!!!” Horn gave a new order.
His people would go against the stereotype from time to time. They seemed to be drunkards and savages, but they worked together like clockwork. Those who were closer to the stairs, lower level fighters, immediately ran down. Those who were far from the stairs jumped down from the walls, and once they landed, rushed forward to make space for the other mercenaries, drinking from their wineskins on the way to increase their HP. And those who were on the opposite side continued throwing grenades at the enemy. Despite the chaos, the explosions, the beating of the paws of the Decayed on the sand and the thundering strikes of the giant fists of the Warriors, who broke through to the base of the wall, there was no commotion among the mercenaries.
“I’ll help you!” Horn cried, when there was almost no one left on the wall.
He tossed both Berg and me over his shoulders with ease and jumped down on the sand, landing simultaneously with the last of the mercenaries. Wasting no time, they all ran away from the walls.
And then, we heard an earsplitting rumble behind us, and a piece of the wall flew past my head.
Horn put us down on the sand and quickly turned around, materializing a poleax.
“Don’t attack the giants alone!” he cried. “If possible, attack from a distance!”
Three Warriors walked slowly through the breach, stopped, and looked around. A black stream of smaller Decayed poured down from behind their backs. At the same moment, we heard thuds and the wall yielded in another place. Like giant bullets, four Warriors rushed out from the second hole at once and into the fight.
Aura of Darkness.
“Separate them! Don’t let them fight close to each other!” Tilda ordered.
“Don’t spare grenades!” someone shouted. I thought it was Tia.
“Threw them into the crowd! Let them have fun!” That was definitely Tael.
“Squad, follow me! We’ll attack from the left!” Kazimir shouted, confidently commanding his one hundred soldiers.
“For the Great One! For Noriduel!!!” Horn roared and, clutching the poleax’s shaft with both hands, pushed off the ground with all his strength and jumped up about twenty feet into the air. A purple glow enveloped his body, and he flew about thirty feet before he plunged his weapon into the big guy’s skull with a satisfying crunch.
He dealt almost 3,000 points of damage to the “Warrior!” Is this some special attack of his? I doubt that every Norudiel’s “Follower” can do that.
Leaving a black trail of smoke behind them, one by one, three arrows flew toward Horn’s opponent. Berg had joined the fight. It was time for me to do the same. What was I waiting for?
I had just rushed forward, when I noticed Wing No.1 beside me.
“Have you found it?!” I asked.
“N… No!” the zombie answered with an effort.
They breached the walls in two more places. The newly arrived Decayed immediately joined the fight. Those who appeared from the left hit the flanks of three hirds at once. Those on the right attacked Kazimir’s group.
“Berg, come with me!” I smacked the archer on the shoulder and ran toward other Followers of the God of Darkness. “Tell Erg and his medics to stay close. It looks like we’ll have to retreat soon!” I told the zombie.
Out of every ten people of our troops, two were supporting fighters equipped with the Simple Tranquility of Darkness Potions, which allowed us to heal ourselves during battle. But that wasn’t enough. Besides, those fighters could easily die while fighting. This is why Erg and his team didn’t fight, but were ready to come to our aid at any moment, or treat the wounded.
Cries and groans sounded from everywhere. The Warriors threw both people and the Decayed that got under their feet in different directions. The giants were surprisingly agile for their height and stature and it was really hard to fight them in close combat. But we couldn’t keep our distance; they’d close it very quickly.
A body of a Salamander, one of the many beasts that had been kicked into the air by one of the Warriors, landed in front of us. The lizard attacked at once, though it posed no danger to us.
“Our people are in trouble!” Berg cried. Having found a good position to attack from, he stopped and pulled the bowstring.
Not taking into account the smaller enemies, five Warriors attacked Kazimir’s men. If I understood it correctly, he had planned to lead his group away and attack the enemy’s flank. However, another breach and enemy reinforcements messed up his plans.
“I’ll be back,” I muttered to Berg and the zombie.
Twilight Wanderer.
I leaped though space and found myself standing right i
n front of the Warriors that was the furthest one away from us. I chose him as my priority target so that the explosion didn’t hurt my people. I quickly took out four grenades out of my inventory and, following the already tested tactic, shoved them into the body of the astonished monster. I thought for a second, weighed the risks, and while the skill was still active, shoved the last four grenades into the body of another nearby giant.
I moved to a safe distance, took out my trident, turned around and…
There was an explosion, followed by another a moment later. Pieces of decayed flesh scattered in all directions, seemingly dealing damage to both monsters and humans.
I tried to deactivate the Wanderer and managed. I immediately triggered another Aura of Darkness, as the previous one had turned off while I was in the Twilight, and hit the leg of the Warrior that was closest to me.
Trident of Darkness.
You have dealt 564 points of damage.
You have dealt 100 points of damage to the secondary target.
You have dealt 100 points of damage to the secondary target.
You have dealt 100 points of damage to the secondary target.
“The Senior Disciple is with us!!!” Kazimir cried loudly, encouraging the tired and wounded warriors.
“Yeah!!!” A cacophony of dozens of voices supported him.
The battle continued. I realized that today was the first time that I fought side by side with high-leveled Followers of the God of Darkness. Swords and shields shrouded in black haze combined with bloodthirsty beasts that were gnawing at the monsters, and whose fur was emitting Darkness made our squad look rather impressive.
But despite our best efforts, it was clear that we were losing. More Decayed were approaching and we hadn’t killed any Warriors on this part of the battlefield.
“Kane! How much longer?!” I cried, seeing the zombie flying in circles near me, and jumped back, dodging the giant’s sweeping kick. I landed right into a group of weaker creatures. Having spun around and dealt several strikes with the trishula, I jumped up and got onto the back of a big Salamander.