Death Flag

  “Do either of you see anything out there?” Madison asked, looking back and forth between Warren and Shayna. They had crawled up as close to the edge as he dared go so that they could peek out ahead, and all he could do was rely on their superior eyesight and hope that they would be able to spot any potential threat before it manifested itself into a real danger.

  “No,” Shayna answered, shaking her head. “I can’t see a thing at all. As far as I can tell, it’s just barren, empty rock.”

  “Warren?” Madison asked. He was really hoping that the young woodsman had some type of trick up his sleeve right now that would let him know if they were about to be ambushed. He knew he didn’t, of course, but it would have been nice.

  “Nope,” Warren answered back. “At least, there’s nothing moving out there. I can just make out where the forest line starts back on the other side, but I can’t see anything beyond that or have a clue what might be waiting just inside. There’s not even enough light to make out shapes or shadows beyond the treeline, so for all I know, there might be an entire army waiting for us there.”

  Madison grunted. “I don’t know if it’s quite that bad, although if we keep pulling off wins like we are now, it’s going to come to that. Once they figure out what happened to the last few groups, they aren’t going to keep sending small parties. They’re going to just send an entire brigade before long.”

  Shayna glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye and then went back to studying the field. Her mouth pressed into a thin line like something was on her mind, but she didn’t say anything.

  “We could wait for the night if you’re that worried,” Warren suggested.

  “No,” Madison answered firmly. “We don’t have the luxury of time. We’re working against the clock. Every minute, every hour we waste getting there is another that they might decide to move her. Every minute is another chance that they might decide to kill her or Fox. We can’t take that chance.”

  Shayna looked over at him again but remained silent.

  “I’m getting really tired of the sneaking around crap,” Madison growled in a low rumble. “This whole chasing shadows and watching for guards and archers and assassins is getting obnoxious. Why can’t people just line up on a battlefield and charge at one another like respectable barbarians?”

  “What?” Shayna asked in astonishment, finally breaking her silence.

  “Just a little annoyed,” Madison replied. “That’s all.”

  “On edge is more like it,” Warren responded. “It’s just a side effect of—”

  He was cut off as Erin casually walked up and bopped him on the back of the head. The others had done everything they could to remain stealthy, even going so far as to low-crawl up to the vantage point, but the healer simply walked up as if it were the safest and most natural thing in all the world for her to do. She held up one hand and pointed down the hill while tapping her foot impatiently.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Madison groaned. “I get it. We might as well get a move on. If someone is going to attack us, there’s nothing we can do to prevent it. We’ll just have to deal with it when it comes up.”

  He pushed himself up out of the dirt and stood up next to her, brushing himself off as he did. He had taken off the suit of armor after the battle, and he missed it at times like these. He had only worn it for a day and over the course of two battles, but he had already come to appreciate exactly how useful it was. He felt naked and exposed without it, and he was halfway tempted to put it on for their decent. He had no doubt that he could move around just as easily with it on as without it—in fact, Warren had been correct when he said that it was likely enchanted with magic that enhanced his natural abilities—but it also painted him as a target.

  Warren and Shayna stood up as well, and Warren shared one last look with Madison. Madison nodded, giving him the go ahead, and the younger man started forward once again. “Just stick to the trail as much as possible,” Madison advised. “We’re going into this blind, so let’s get it over with as quickly as possible.”

  “Got it,” Warren called back to him.

  The climb down wasn’t nearly as bad as he had expected, and the only truly-tough part was keeping his balance. In truth, it also brought back nostalgic memories of hiking trips he had taken when he was younger. Warren led the way, carefully picking his steps through the rocky field and pointing out the danger areas, and whenever they came to a patch of pathway where it was too steep to walk down naturally, he would wait at the bottom just in case someone slipped and fell along the way. Thus, they bounced from spot to spot in spurts without any real trouble. Despite that, however, Madison’s sense of unease diminished little during their decent. They had just navigated a particularly-tricky part of the trail that required them climbing down a short rock shelf while relying on nothing more than handholds that had been carved into the side of the cliff, and he was begging to feel grateful for the fact that they hadn’t waited until night to make the descent. He didn’t even want to imagine how impossible it would have been to find the proper footholds in the dark.

  Then, his fears were finally realized. From somewhere far below, an arrow soared up at them, and Madison never even knew that it was there until it bounced off of a rock just beside them.

  “Down!” he shouted, immediately dropping to his knees and pulling Erin down with him. He hurriedly pushed her back a few steps until she was sheltered behind one of the larger boulders. It offered more than enough cover to keep them both safe, but it also stripped him of his ability to see what was going on.

  “What is it?” Warren asked, clearly confused. He and Shayna had followed orders, however, and both had taken similar cover behind smaller boulders.

  “Arrow!” Madison shouted back. “Where did that come from?”

  “I didn’t . . .” Warren trailed off, clearly looking upset over the fact that he had spied neither the arrow nor the archer who shot it. He ducked his head out from behind the rock but quickly pulled it back. “It’s not good,” he answered. “I can’t get a clear view of anything from this angle. There’re too many rocks in the way.”

  “Damn it,” Madison cursed. He had known that something like this was going to happen, and once again, he had been helpless to prevent it. “What do you think about—?” He was suddenly cut off as a rain of arrows showered down around them.

  Most of them bounced harmlessly off the rocks above them, but a few plinked off the boulder they were hidden behind, coming a little too close for comfort.

  “Damn it,” Madison growled a second time. “Erin, can you run?” He glanced back at the girl next to him to make sure she understood what he was asking from her.

  She nodded resolutely, and he knew that she understood him perfectly.

  “Good,” he responded. A moment later, his body shimmered with a golden glow as he equipped the dragon-gifted armor he had been missing a short time ago.

  “Wait!” Shayna called back to him. “What are you doing?!”

  “We’re pinned down,” he shouted back. “It’s the only way!”

  “You’re going to get yourself killed! I told you that you couldn’t die yet!”

  Madison just rolled his eyes at that comment. He could practically hear her stamping her feet as she said it. He had already heard it enough times that he figured it was about time that she came up with a new line anyway. They were about three-quarters of the way down the slope, and it really wasn’t too rough for the rest of the journey. As long as they followed the trail, they would have a decent amount of cover. The problem was figuring out what happened once they reached the bottom. There was a long stretch of unprotected path that they’d have to stick to, and they’d be completely exposed if they made a dash for the trees. Then, as Warren had already pointed out, there was no telling what might be waiting for them there.

  “Warren,” Madison shouted. “I’m going to go first and draw their fire. Keep the girls moving and lay down any suppressing shots if you get the chance. But first a
nd foremost, keep your heads down! Got it?!” Madison pushed himself up without waiting for an answer and then took off in a sprint. He flew down the pathway as fast as his legs would carry him, blowing past Shayna and Warren in a matter of seconds. Arrows started raining down around him as he ran, and he risked glancing down the slope to see exactly what he was up against. To his dismay, he realized there were somewhere between twenty and thirty people shooting at him from below. Thankfully, not a single one of them was even half as good as Warren, and they were still too far away to make a difference.

  There was a steep section in the trail ahead, but rather than slow down and take his time with it as they had so far, Madison hit it at a full run. He threw his legs forward at the last moment, taking it in the same fashion that a baseball runner would second base. He skidded down the rough rock pathway with surprising speed and then popped up as he hit the bottom. Unexpectedly, however, the pathway curbed back to the left, and Madison’s momentum kept him running forward. He hesitated for a brief moment, unsure of what to do, and then launched himself into the air as he stepped off the path. He only soared through the air for the briefest of moments, but it felt like he was in a plane coming in for a landing. He hit the ground hard when he landed and slammed into another boulder, almost directly. He instinctively tried to twist around at the last moment and take the blow on his side, and he was partially successful. He felt his arm as it was pinned beneath him and then a massive pressure in his side as the air was driven out of him.

  He staggered back for a moment, and arrows rained down around him. He felt one strike his shoulder and bounce off the armor there, and then he felt another strike him square in the chest before falling away harmlessly. Whether it was the range or the types of bows and arrows they were using, he was thankful for the fact that they couldn’t penetrate armor. If the history lesson Warren had given him was true, he was also thankful to whatever two lords had sat down and decided that armor-penetrating bows should be outlawed.

  Madison wobbled forward several steps and then pushed himself into a run again, turning and moving directly downhill and toward the archers. He cleared a narrow wash with little trouble, but his toe caught on a rock just as he stepped down into a small, round depression. He stumbled forward, his arms pinwheeling wildly, and he crashed head first into the rim of the basin. It looked like a small crater, and while it offered some small bit of protection from the arrows, he knew that he couldn’t stay there. And, as if on cue as a not-so-subtle reminder, several arrows bounced down from the rocks above.

  He sucked in several deep breaths as he rolled over onto his back and scanned the side of the hill behind him. He quickly searched up and down its length for any sign of the others, and he was partly relieved when he didn’t find them. As long as he couldn’t see them, it was likely that the archers down below couldn’t either. It also meant that they were likely doing exactly what he had told them to and moving from cover to cover while he drew the fire. Of course, that plan only worked so long as he actually presented a target for the archers to shoot at.

  Madison took one deep breath and began pushing himself back to his feet again. He had just turned around and taken two shambling steps, ready to break into a run, when the ground in front of him exploded. Rock fragments and debris went flying up into the air along with a cloud of dirt, and Madison dove back into the small basin, quickly covering his head for protection. He automatically groaned to himself and felt the knot form in the pit of his stomach. His plan was effective as long as he held their fire—and as long as there wasn’t someone at the bottom shooting magic at them. He hadn’t even realized that someone was casting at him until it was too late, and he was normally on top of those things.

  Something nagged at him in the back of his brain as he sat up, almost like something was slightly off, and it took him a moment to realize what it was. He always knew when someone was casting magic nearby, whether it was at him or not. This time, however, he hadn’t felt anything. Coughing away the dust and debris, Madison peered out through the cloud of dirt that had risen up. Strangely, a large, black shadow had settled in the center of the cloud, and he couldn’t see anything through it. Swallowing down his fear, he charged forward once again, launching himself over the rim of the basin and breaking into a run as soon as his feet hit the steep, downhill slope.

  Then the shadow moved. It came crashing down directly toward him, and Madison only narrowly dodged out of the way as a large, gravely arm crashed down in front of him. He threw himself to the right, landing on his side and rolling over before pushing himself up again, and he looked up in time to see a second shadow coming directly for him. He threw himself forward over a small drop off and landed directly between two massive boulders. He twisted around, looking up for whatever it was that was attacking him, and he almost preferred that he hadn’t.

  Standing above him, on the lip of the small drop off he had just jumped down from, was a large stone giant. It towered above him, and while it was likely only around twelve feet tall, the extra height it gained just by where it was standing made it appear all the more dominating. Its body was constructed from the same light-grey stone as the side of the mountain, and it looked as equally sunbaked and washed-out as every other boulder he had passed on the way down. There were small patches of a dark-green lichen growing on it in some places, but aside from a few splits and crevices, there was no way to truly distinguish its parts from ordinary rocks.

  The giant swiveled its small head to look down at him, and two dark-black eyes seemed to focus in on Madison for the first time. It turned toward him just slightly and then jumped into the air. Fearing for his life and yet marveling at the sight, Madison staggered back away from the beast and where it was likely to land. He was sluggish at first, but his instincts screamed at him that he needed to run, and that was exactly what he did. He heard the creature slam down behind him just as he took off, and he didn’t bother looking back to see what had happened.

  Arrows started raining down around him in earnest then. If Madison alone hadn’t been enough to draw the attention of every single archer down below, the sight of a giant stone golem certainly was. Madison charged downhill headfirst and at a breakneck speed, completely forgoing any sense of defense or fear of the archers. They were bound to land a few shots on him, especially as he drew closer and closer to them, but he would rather deal with a human with an arrow that his armor could deflect than a stone giant that would smash him to a pulp.

  Madison launched himself over a small ravine, and he misplaced his landing. His feet slid out from under him as he rolled forward on a loose patch of gravel, and it took everything he had just to stay upright. He flew forward and bounced off of a large boulder, reaching out to catch himself and then pushing himself away again almost as quickly. Completely out of control, Madison careened off one boulder and then the next. All he could do was pick his feet up and put them down again and hope that he didn’t get tripped up somewhere along the way. He never risked looking back behind him, but the loud and constant thudding following closely behind told him that he didn’t need to. For all the trouble he was having, the stone giant seemed to be in his element as it wound its way over the mountainside.

  There was a sudden break in the noise, and then a giant boulder went flying over Madison’s head. The rock bounced off of another, much larger boulder, and the two went careening off down the hill together, rolling away in opposite directions. One veered off harmlessly, but the other took a path that sent it flying directly toward the assembled archers. He heard their shouts and screams, and the entire formation broke as they turned and ran to get out of the way of the runaway boulder. There as a loud crash off to his left, and Madison caught sight of a second boulder as it went bouncing in the same direction, heading for the people down below. He wasn’t sure if the golem was aiming for him or the slough of archers, but he couldn’t help but enjoy the results.

  Several of the archers seem to keep their wits about them. They ran off a short d
istance before turning and continuing to fire off shots, but there was little that they could do on their own. Madison was getting close to the bottom of the steep run now, which meant that he was definitely within range of their bows, but they seemed to be focused more on the rampaging giant behind him than they were on him. He could clearly see forest now, and he knew that it offered whatever safety he was going to find. His best bet was to reach woods and then get lost. If he was lucky, Warren would track him down later on once it was safe—if there even was such a thing any more.

  Madison finally looked behind him as a third boulder flew over his head, and he watched as the creature reached down, ripped a boulder from the ground, hefted it overhead, and then hurled it toward him. Realizing that this one was clearly intended for him, he veered off to the left, and the rock smashed to the ground harmlessly before continuing on. He reached the last leg of the run then. The ground started leveling out, and he could practically see the tree line beckoning to him. To his dismay, however, several of the archers chose that moment to remember that he was the target and not the beast behind him, and arrows began whizzing past him again, now with a much greater accuracy and lethality than they had possessed before. He was still confident that his armor would protect him, but he would have to be wary of anything heading for his head or neck, the only unprotected parts of his entire body.

  When he estimated that there were about two hundred feet left to cover, Madison materialized his sword. The weapon was light enough for him to swing around during battle, but running with it over long distances was far from ideal, simply because of its length. Now that he was almost within striking range, however, he wanted it handy.