Chasing Down Glory: The Outrider Legion: Book Two

by Christopher Pepper

  “And then what?” the Underking asked. Johan noticed that the usual scorn was absent from the sifar's voice. That was...something.

  “Then we hold the gate until everyone is through,” Vegard said before Johan could. “We'll clear the path for the siege equipment to set up near the gate to provide cover in case that big thing comes back. Let the soldiers dig in until everyone is out.”

  Johan nodded. “Exactly. Once the column is through the gate, we follow suit and get the hells out of here. Then,” he sighed, “the city is Garrey's problem.”

  The Outriders saluted and ran towards the inner wall. Johan called out to the two golems, sending one to follow after his men. The golem he kept, surprisingly, had a feminine faceplate and had a woman's voice.

  “What are your orders, Commander?” the golem asked.

  “Follow me,” he said simply to the golem, and they waded back into the fray, hoping to fight his way to Alek and Kinnese before their luck finally ran out.

  A cheer rippled through the column of people as the gigantic monster was driven away by the engineers on the wall, and Edda found herself cheering right along with them. Her muscles ached, and her feet were hellishly sore from her poor choice of shoes, but she felt hope beginning to blossom in her chest. The column of people, slowed to a crawl as the soldiers slogged it out with the monstrous forces ahead of them, picked up speed again to almost a jog.

  Edda had to hand it to the people of Bellkeep. They had kept their cool as best as possible given the circumstances. When they had set out from the garrison, she had half expected the crowd to devolve into a mob, racing towards their only hope of escape. Instead, the people had kept together, finding relative peace and strength in numbers as they marched alongside the pockets of Bellkeep soldiers that escorted them.

  A small force of the traitorous City Watch, with only two of the twisted, corrupted citizens, had attacked soon after Alek and the Outriders left them. But Edda, Nerthus, their golem escort, and a handful of Bellkeep spearmen fought them off with no casualties. They endured three more brief skirmishes before the appearance of the giant abomination, but they had repelled each. Edda had noticed that the traitors only engaged them and the soldiers. They didn't turn their weapons onto the civilians unless one was armed and attacked them directly. Her thoughts quickly flashed back to the warehouse full of hanging citizens, like so many slabs of meat, and Edda shuddered. Of course they wouldn't kill the civilians if they could help it, she realized. Titus and Gustav needed more victims to swell their numbers.

  “How are you holding up?” Nerthus asked, her voice oddly casual as they increased their pace. “No aches or pains to mention?”

  “No, why?” Edda responded, suspicion entering her voice.

  “Truly?” Nerthus said, still not looking at her. “Nothing bothering your joints? Your hands? Or perhaps even your feet?”

  “Oh, they are just fine,” Edda responded, hoping her internal grimace didn't show itself. “In fact, I believe I could walk and fight all the way back to Tethis in these darlings before I felt anything.”

  “You know,” Nerthus went on, flexing the fingers of her mecharm, “no one would judge you too harshly if you decided to ditch those heels and go barefoot. Sometimes there's dignity in admitting defeat.”

  “The hells I will,” Edda stated, defiance in her voice. “I've come this far without falling, rolling an ankle, breaking an arch, or even snapping off a gods damned heel. Don't think you can con me out of the bet. Why, you missed it when my style actually killed someone this evening.”

  “Last evening,” Nerthus corrected her. “And all this time I was wondering what happened to your hat. But you'll have to tell me about it some other time. Right now I plan on moving up the column, seeing how we are doing. Think you can manage back here on your own?”

  Edda waved her hand, taking in the two Forn, the golem, and the apprentice witches that were all seated in wagons around them. “I'd hardly say I'd be on my own, but yeah, go for it. Just hurry back here and tell me what is going on up there.”

  Nerthus leaned forwards, her voice barely a whisper in Edda's ear. “Don't trust any of them. They aren't our people.” And the Umbra jogged away before Edda could reply.

  Edda remembered the oddly intense gaze the silver-haired woman, Pela, had been giving her. And as she looked around, she caught another intense gaze from the sour looking old man that had accompanied Kinnese's apprentice witches. But where Pela's gaze was a mixture of curiosity and anger, the old man's was a little more...disconcerting. Looking up into their wagon, Edda caught the two Forn conversing in a foreign tongue. They halted briefly as they nodded at her. The green-skinned man said something, and the woman laughed. Edda faked a smile and drifted closer to the golem that Egveny had left them.

  “Looks like you're my last friend,” she said wryly to the golem.

  “That...is sad on your part,” the golem replied, its heavy mechanical strides slowed to keep pace with the column.

  Edda sighed as she walked. Where's Alek when you need him?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Where's Alek when you need him?” Ryker barked as he ducked, a sweeping cudgel nearly smashing his head in.

  “Tiny's covering our backside further down the wall,” Garm grunted as he thrust his greatsword into the back of the watchman attacking Ryker before whirling around and engaging two more watchmen who tried to jump him from behind. To Garm's side, the Underking wielded his sifar knife with uncanny grace and speed, watching the flank of his captors. Ryker still felt a strange other-worldliness from the sifar bastard, and he couldn't tell if it was his own senses, or the Fey's influence.

  Ryker had led the bulk of the Outriders with that devilish woman of Kinnese's to the Copper Gate ahead of the Bellkeep column. Waiting for them was what seemed like three squads of City Watch, led by that ogre of a man Griffon they had encountered when they had arrived in Bellkeep. The City Watch were utter garbage at fighting, Ryker had thought thankfully. Only their sheer numbers seemed to pose a threat to them.

  Well, Ryker corrected himself, sheer numbers and that gods damn monster Griffon.

  Vegard and the woman Pela had fought their way through the City Watch ahead of them and were pulling on the giant chained wheel that raised the Copper Gate's portcullis, an extremely thick grating that looked like it could shrug off a battering ram for days, when Griffon, the monstrous watchman that had welcomed them to Bellkeep earlier, literally fell upon them from above.

  The malformed man moved with a grace and speed that belied his bulk, and Ryker could now see that Griffon was somehow a more stable version of the abominations that had been plaguing them. Where the abominations were monstrous and silent, however, Griffon retained much of his human frame and his ability to speak. The giant uttered half-audible curses as Pela and Vegard entered into a beautifully deadly dance with him. Ryker and Garm, cut off from their comrade by a line of watchmen, could only catch glimpses of the fight as they fought to break through the line and aid their friend.

  Ryker was about to square off against yet another of the helmeted watchmen when a large bronze pike gored his opponent through the chest. Piking finally, Ryker thought, as the clockwork golem that had accompanied them raced past him, its metal body absorbing blow after blow from the watchmen's thick cudgels. Seeing the opportunity, Ryker charged ahead, bringing his sword up in a guard as he prepared to join the fray against Griffon.

  Vegard, his legion sword nowhere to be seen, ducked Griffon's large fists before rising up and connecting on the freak's jaw with a powerful uppercut. Ryker was surprised to see the overlarge man stagger backwards from the blow. As Griffon backpedaled, Pela leaped upon him from behind, stabbing into his bulk over and over with two long, slender knives.

  “Piking...woman!?” Griffon roared, his words an anguished mix of hate and confusion. He reached up and grabbed Pela by one of her wiry arms and hurled her forwards as if she were no more than a sack of grain. Before the woman could even at
tempt to right herself in the air, Vegard caught her, quickly setting her down on the stone floor of the gate tower before launching himself at Griffon, his gauntlet-clad fists a blur as he unleashed a flurry of fists and elbows at the monster's face and chest. Griffon waved his hands in an attempt to ward away Vegard's blows, but a few of the Outrider's strikes connected. Griffon howled, and with a backhanded fist, he sent Vegard reeling.

  Ryker reached the melee just as Pela, her knives still embedded within Griffon's massive shoulders, got to her feet and leaped forwards, her foot just passing Vegard as he flew past, and shattered the bent ruin of a nose on Griffon's face. As Griffon staggered back again, covering his face with both of his overlarge hands, Ryker rushed forwards, bringing his blade up in an arc and cleaving the man's jaw from below and sending severed fingers flying.

  While he may have had the strength, speed, and endurance of the other abominations the City Watch employed, Griffon did still possess his ability to express his thoughts verbally. No matter the state of his face and jaw.

  “Ooog gooo!” Griffon spat out through his ruined face as blood, broken teeth, and thick black sludge flew from his gashed throat.

  Ryker wasted no time, slashing his blade across Griffon's chest twice in a back and forth motion. Griffon fell to one knee, bracing himself with one of his sinewy arms. He glared at Ryker with a wild, animalistic hatred, but before he could do anything Vegard's fist smashed downwards, shattering the back of Griffon's skull. The mutated man's body shuddered slightly and then went still.

  “Hurry!” Pela clipped, wasting no time in hurrying to the portcullis wheel. Vegard was with her in a second and the two of them began hauling on the large handles of the wheel. The sounds of pulling chains ringing out was like music to Ryker's ears, and he felt a shiver up his spine at the sound. The portcullis underneath them groaned as it began to rise.

  “Holy hells,” Ryker muttered. “We're going to make it after all.”

  “Please, gods, don't jinx us,” Vegard huffed as he pulled on the wheel.

  “Less talking,” Pela panted, reaching for the next handle. “We aren't free of this place yet.”

  As Garm, the golem, and the Underking finished off the last of the City Watch, Ryker took a moment to gaze out from the wall over Bellkeep. In the morning light, the city almost looked pretty, he thought. That is, if you ignored the burning buildings, billowing smoke, and the cacophony of horror that the air carried with it. Below, and still a small distance away, Ryker watched the column of Bellkeep citizens and soldiers slowly push their way through a renewed wave of the City Watch. Garrey's men knew their trade, Ryker had to admit. The shields and spears of the soldiers were doing an admirable job of keeping the traitors at a safe distance, pushing them back if not outright killing them. Every minute or so engineers from further back on the wall would blow their bellows and send a gout of liquid fire into the rear lines of City Watch, searing them to whatever bones they had left. The two scorpions that had been set up also began a steady rhythm of firing their large bolts at the traitors.

  All things considered, Ryker thought, things were definitely looking good.

  As if to scold him for having any thoughts of hope, movement caught Ryker's eye further ahead of them on the wall. A large column of sickly green light coalesced and then quickly faded, leaving in its wake almost a dozen more watchmen, and three of the oversized abominations.

  “Veg, silver!” Ryker called, and the two stopped hauling on the portcullis wheel. “Get over here and get ready,” he brandished his sword, pointing it at the new arrivals. “Looks like we've got a little more cleaning up to do.”

  “Pike me,” Garm breathed from behind Ryker. The second-in-command turned at the strange sound in Garm's voice.

  “What's the problem?” Ryker asked. “We've faced worse than them not ten minutes ago.”

  “Not them,” the Underking said, his usual bile and sarcasm absent. “Them.” The sifar pointed a long finger back into the city. Ryker followed the sif's gaze, and felt his stomach drop.

  Two more of the gigantic abominations were marching towards them. One from the northern roads, the other from what looked like the City Palace District. And at their feet was an entire host of people, armed with a myriad of weapons. But something wasn't right. The way the people moved was wrong. Before Ryker thought to even ask, he felt that warm sensation from the Phaedra in his mind, and his vision sharpened considerably. They weren't people, he saw. It was a crowd of abominations, gathered around their larger brothers. Dozens of them. Moving in an orderly manner. And they were armed. Those that could fit in them even wore pieces of armor.

  “Four Hells embrace us,” Garm whispered, stepping back despite himself.

  From behind Ryker, a shout went up. The Bellkeep soldiers must have seen what was coming. That familiar thrum sound echoed from the wall as the Bellkeep engineers turned their siege equipment onto the oncoming threat. The bolts impacted the nearest of the giant monsters and its escorts, rocking it backwards and scattering the leading abominations.

  The other giant, trundling down from the northern part of the city paused a moment. It turned and bent slightly, its large hands tearing chunks of rooftop off of a nearby building. With a deep, wet groan, the giant hurled the two large handfuls of splintered wood and terracotta.

  “Down!!” Ryker bellowed, and all of the Outriders, even the golem, threw themselves down onto the stone.

  The large projectiles flew over the prone Outriders, impacting amongst the engineers that had set up their engines. Man and engine alike were pulverized under the weight of the giant's makeshift weapon.

  The rustle of heavy boots on stone forced Ryker and the rest to their feet immediately after as the newly arrived group of watchmen raced towards them.

  “Thank you very much for the jinx,” Vegard sighed next to him, pawing at his injured jaw. And as he commanded his aching muscles to respond, Ryker had to agree.

  He really needed to keep his damn mouth shut.

  “Stand your ground!” Captain Garrey shouted. Johan and his golem escort had only just reached the Bellkeep captain when the two new giants emerged from the depths of the city. Men began shouting and wailing as soon as they saw the new giants and their escort of smaller mutants. Thankfully, the soldiers didn't break. They obeyed their captain and reformed into their phalanxes.

  Johan wondered if, even after everything they've endured so far, the soldiers held due to discipline, or if because there really wasn't any place for them to flee to.

  “Your orders haven't changed!” Garrey bellowed, enunciating each sentence with a thrust of his sword. “Push forwards! Take the gate! Save our people! Push! Forwards!”

  Johan, momentarily forgotten, looked past the giants. The giants, and the monsters with them, were moving much too orderly. There had to be another mage or wizard somewhere directing them. If he could just find it and take it out, there was still a chance that-

  “Commander,” Garrey said, snapping Johan's attention back. “My apologies for all but signing your death warrants.”

  Johan gave his counterpart a little grin as the small phalanxes of soldiers began to move forwards again around them. “It's always been something that could happen.”

  “We were so close. So gods damned close,” Garrey sighed, and the way his shoulders dropped told Johan everything. The man was resigned to his fate.

  “Please tell me we have more engineers with big siege toys ready to save us,” a female voice said to Johan's side. Turning, he saw Nerthus standing there, nonchalantly as if she had been there this entire time.”

  Garrey shook his head. “That was all that we could get out-”

  A bright blue light illuminated the morning sky, taking everyone's attention. The air around the closest giant, with scorpion bolts still sticking out of its chest, began to glow a bright blue. Abruptly the blue light melted off the giant, pouring into the ground like a thin liquid. A handful of seconds later, the light surged up out of the ground,
illuminating one of the abominations that was standing behind the giant's massive legs with the same intense blue glow. A single white blur, an arrow alight with white flame, suddenly shot forwards from a nearby rooftop and burrowed itself into the glowing figure. Even over the sounds of combat, the wailing, hateful cry of pain could be heard.

  The giant seemed to shudder, its dull, glassy eyes blinking a few times as if waking up from a deep slumber. The giant roared, pulling at the bolts in its chest as if noticing them for the first time. It roared again as a bright blue torrent of energy slammed into its back from the same rooftop the white arrow had come from. The giant turned as a second white arrow shot out, and then a third, with both arrows hitting the giant in its dull eyes. Roaring in blind, impotent rage, the giant charged the rooftop, heedless of its own brethren that it trampled over. The giant crashed into the building, shattering both roof and wall in its anger. Another blue torrent of power burned into the side of the creature's face from the west, and it howled in rage as it turned and ran back the way it came in a blind attempt to find what was stinging it.

  Garrey's men cheered again, their courage renewed. But it was short lived. Despite their gigantic ally abandoning them, the newly arrived abominations did not falter, charging forwards into the Bellkeep phalanxes. Johan watched in morbid fascination as these new arrivals fought. Whereas the ones Johan and the Outriders had fought earlier seemed to be little more than beasts, these newer, smaller abominations fought with some degree of skill. Deformed hands gripped swords or axes awkwardly, and warped heads and twisted shoulders had chainmail draped over them. No mindless horde, these. They looked almost like small, deformed trolls.