A sword caught Rux’s arm and caused him to drop his shield. Palon held his position while Rux was pushed back. Groose slashed and stabbed like an animal until he reached Palon’s side. Rux took a few more hits, but he was still standing and fighting while leaning against a parapet. Blood ran down his side coming from just above his elbow.
Orkin parried a stab that slid off his blade and caused the Etikstan soldier to lose his balance and fall farther forward, where he accidentally stabbed Urny underneath the ribs. There was nothing I could do. I had already left Kully and fought alongside everyone else. Kully tried to stop the bleeding, but Urny was dead before Kully even reached his side. Another of the giant millipede-like creatures climbed over the wall and appeared behind the mass of soldiers we were fighting. They shouted and the creature growled. I figured we were officially done. There was nothing we could do.
“Through the guardhouse,” shouted Kully. He had looked inside and saw we could jump down despite the building burning. It was our only chance.
I shouted at Kully to drop. Ralet quickly followed to help, then Rux and Henli, and Oitter and Jenn. I stayed up top until Palon and Groose shouted. They were still fighting and holding and Carner had slid some yax bombs into the soldiers. If they stepped on them, they would all be eaten by the flames. I dropped to the floor below and followed Henli through the broken and burning boards. The smoke was thick and it burned my lungs, but we made it to the ground and out into the street. Everyone circled to protect us while we waited for anyone else. Carner crawled out and coughed and tried to compose himself.
“What about Palon and Groose?”
He shook his head and said he was unsure of what happened as he escaped. A loud noise, like a boulder falling, came from inside. Soon after, Palon came out with Groose.
We ran through town as fast as Kully could move, heading towards the ruins of the north gate. It would be our best way out of the city. Lamberg had fallen. That was obvious. We hadn’t seen a Tullinbran soldier since the fight began. If Hogreth and Krelik had not been killed, there wasn’t going to be much time left for them to turn the fight around.
It’s difficult to recount the events in such a way that I do not dwell on my friends’ deaths, yet I want to write exactly what happened and how we escaped. Emotions within the writing will interfere, and I would rather share the story of their sacrifice than my own pain.
We approached the ruined gate and found a giant, or goliath as Beatrice said, with a platoon of soldiers and a few of the flat-head crawlers. We couldn’t run. Rux and Kully could hardly walk.
Carner wished us luck and told us to go. He dropped his munitions bag and pulled out his sword and we all hurried away as fast as we could. Explosions shook the ground and collapsed a building behind us. None of us turned around. We didn’t want to waste the time Carner gave us.
The sun was still in the air, but the world seemed dark. So much smoke floated in the air that the whole city was in the shadows. Everything smelled of burnt and dying flesh. We took refuge inside a house for a short time as Henli and I bandaged Rux’s arm. He lost a lot of blood, but was still conscious. Nobody was entirely sure where we were in the city, but we knew we had to try to get outside the walls.
Back in the street, we walked until we saw the palace. We quickly turned the other way and tried heading farther west. Our only option was the north gate and we had to try approaching it from the other direction.
It seemed like the city was deserted, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that. The palace was likely filled with Etikstan soldiers tormenting the king. We walked without confrontation for a long time until we heard the clicking of claws on the cobblestones.
Another of the giant millipede creatures charged us. Ralet dove and tackled Kully out of its path while Orkin sidestepped and stabbed the monster in the side of the head. The sword was pulled from his hand as the animal kept moving forward, despite being killed instantly. Once he was back on his feet, Kully loosened his sword belt and threw the whole thing to Orkin.
Orkin didn’t try to pull the blade from the creature’s skull. Instead, we kept moving toward the gate. The city looked like ruins that had been abandoned for years, apart from the fresh ash and blood that was spotted throughout the streets.
It was quiet for a long time until Kully fell to his knees and gasped.
We all turned around and saw a puker with blood all over his left hand standing behind Kully. Ralet shouted and swung at the beast, who dodged and swiftly stabbed Ralet three times in the chest. Everyone had moved towards it at the same time, but it killed Ralet so quick we never could have reached him in time.
It didn’t retreat and instead waited like it was ready to fight all of us. Palon smashed his shield against the creature and threw it onto its back. Oitter kicked it in the head to stun it, and Palon brutally killed it by cutting off its head with his shield. Palon dropped his shield and sword and fell to his knees beside Kully. Groose pressed his hands against Ralet’s chest. Dark blood rose between Groose’s fingers and ran down to the cobblestones. Groose kept pressing down, trying to stop the bleeding. His hands were completely coated in Ralet’s blood and he didn’t even seem to notice that Ralet was already dead.
I shoved Groose over and directed his attention to Kully, who still lived. I crouched beside and started checking Kully’s wound while he talked to Palon and Groose. His breathing was ragged and he needed support to stay up. Palon hugged him and kept him upright. Groose sat beside Kully.
Kully’s wound was fatal. There was nothing I could do. Maybe if we were anywhere else in the world, but not in the middle of that city. We were all heartbroken, again. Like we had been each time and we could only watch.
“Find Beatrice, okay?” Kully patted his bloodied hand against Palon’s thigh and held Groose’s hand. He spoke slowly. “She was scared and she ran, but she needs help. So find her and help.”
Groose and Palon both nodded and held Kully as he ran out of breaths. Nobody spoke once he was gone. Groose and Palon both grabbed Ralet’s hand and held it for a moment before standing. We helped them move the bodies into the ruins of a collapsed building.
It was not a burial, but at least they were out of the street.
A brief time later, we reached the ruined gate. About twenty Etikstan soldiers stood around with their weapons sheathed. They quietly watched us approach. One of them, a young man with brown hair and stubble that only recently started to grow walked up and looked at us.
“You are Tullinbran?”
I shook my head. “We are monster hunters.”
He nodded. “You run.” He pointed to the other soldiers around. “We don’t want more killing. Kingdom has fallen. Our job done.”
“Thank you.”
I didn’t believe it. I assumed we would be stabbed as soon as we approached or as we walked out of the city, but they did not move or say another word.
We hurried through and I tried to not think that the lone puker was the only thing standing between Kully and Ralet escaping with the rest of us. I felt beyond lucky to have stepped outside of Lamberg at all, but lucky wasn’t a happy feeling when we lost so much.
I didn’t see Skrale die, but everything felt different when his presence was gone from the world. I learned more from him and his beliefs than I ever will from anything else.
That isn’t the story of how we escaped. Instead, it was more of how they let us go after killing so many.
Eight of us escaped together.
Miraculously, we found Heff near death just outside the city. His left arm and part of his face were poisoned and purple, but Henli and myself managed to slow it and help him survive, although his skin would always be tainted and damaged. Heff cried when he saw us. We found him sitting on the side of the road with a bag that contained this journal. He couldn’t speak. Heff just cried, then sat on the ground and stared at us.
He finally spoke today, three days after the battle. He has not given any information about what happened at th
e gatehouse. We know they held it as long as they were able and gave their lives to protect people they never met. I won’t ask Heff, and I doubt the others will. He’ll share if he needs. All he said today was, “I’m happy to see you all.”
In the fashion of Skrale and Beatrice before me, I’ll write as we travel and record what happens with all of us that remain. Skrale truly believed we were a family and I intend to keep us together.
First Squad:
Teke
Orkin
Second Squad:
Rux
Henli
Third Squad:
Heff
Fourth Squad:
Palon
Groose
Oitter
Scouts:
Jenn
Missing:
Beatrice
We don’t know where to go. The one thing we all know is that we’re going to listen to Kully. Everyone agreed to that. We’re going to get away from Etikstan and find Beatrice. Finding the journal was only the first step. As long as she’s alive, we’ll find her.
Notes on Monster Hunting Page 29