by Dave Higgins
From Edmond’s right, the sound of cleaving and screaming rose above the grunts and moans. Daffodil had reached the front line.
“Your turn,” Edmond said to Grew. “Before too many of our troops get hacked to bits.”
Grew nodded, moving off to a clear space. His legs and arm moved to different rhythms, as if the halves of his body were dancing different dances. Leaping, spinning, and twisting, each limb took a different direction. Yet, somehow the parts harmonised. Edmond clicked his fingers to a beat that wasn’t there.
As Grew vaulted to a halt, members’ of Imperatis’ army screamed.
Edmond strained to see over the heads of the zombies. The humans were ripping their armour off and throwing their shields aside. The tiny sizzles of searing metal hitting grass built until they could be heard through the groan of battle. Edmond nodded in satisfaction. They might not feel fear, but they felt pain. Anything metal within the range of Grew’s spell had grown too hot to bear.
The sound of humans having a terrible day increased as Daffodil pressed the advantage. With the stone axe and leather armour she’d spent all night making, she could stride through the spell’s area of effect without risk.
Imperatis’ army, feet tangled by piles of buckled metal, fought back as best they could. Bare hands and naked flesh couldn’t do much against zombies.
Or giants. Wading through the undead, the looming figures closed, swiping great swaths of soldiers aside.
Imperatis’ giants, held back in the rear, advanced. While there were less of them, they moved in pairs, trying to overwhelm some of Edmond’s giants before the others forced their way close enough to assist.
Abandoning their futile defence, humans swarmed up giants’ bodies, seeking to bury them under sheer numbers.
The nearest giant shook, throwing soldiers far and wide, but others replaced them faster than she cast them free. She sagged then surged upright, once, twice; but then fell to her knees. After a moment, she sank from sight into the struggling mass of bodies.
Edmond glanced along the lines. The advantage was slipping away. And, if the giants experienced piles of humanity as enclosed spaces, they might have already lost. He shot a look at Grew, but Grew shook his head.
Half-glad everyone was too busy not dying to watch, Edmond shuffled from foot-to-foot. Compared to Grew’s magnificent display, his own dance felt functional at best. But he kept going. A wave of fire lashed across the buried giant.
The clinging humans screamed as they caught light, but they didn’t stop holding the giant.
Elsewhere, Imperatis’ giants had overwhelmed their targets and moved on, leaving a huge corpse in their wake.
Daffodil sprang up at a giant from the crush, her stone axe arcing over her head.
The weapon shattered against the giant’s skin.
Still clutching the shaft, she dived away before it punched her and disappeared again into the mêlée.
The soldiers not harrying giants had overcome their initial disarray. Some wielded two shields or a shield and splintered piece of wood. Others swung bows. Most, though, had torn clothes and used them to pick their swords back up.
Edmond cursed. Imperatis’ troops were programmed, but they weren’t mindless. With the enemy giants dominating the field, soldiers recovering their weapons, and zombies falling to attacks, the tide had turned. The enemy were still outnumbered, but each soldier with a sword was more than a match for three zombies.
Daffodil broke from the lines and jogged to join Edmond. Her skin was streaked with blood and her expression was grim.
“We’ve lost,” Edmond said.
“Again.” She hurled the remains of her axe into the fray, knocking two of the defenders to the ground. “We need to retreat.”
Grew joined them. “How are we going to defeat Imperatis? If all the zombies and giants can’t do it, then what?”
“I don’t know,” Edmond said. “We need to find Rauger and Peony and retreat.”
They each scanned the rear of the lines before frowning.
“Weren’t they meant to be hanging back?” Grew said. “On the far left?”
Edmond nodded. They were nowhere in sight. He didn’t have to think too hard to know what had happened. His daughter had got an idea into her head again. “We need to retreat. Once those giants are finished with our forces, they’ll run after us. And we can’t outpace them. Without Daffodil’s axe and your mana, we’re unlikely to defeat them.”
“What about Peony?” Daffodil said. “Where is she?”
“She’s used the distraction,” Edmond said. “Sneaked around the battle to attack Imperatis. We’re more noticeable. If we try to follow her, we’ll get mired in Imperatis’ soldiers.”
Kense floated to them, Stupo stumbling behind. “We’re losing.”
Edmond nodded. “We need to retreat. Peony has gone to find Imperatis. Can you follow her? The enemy won’t pay attention to a single zombie. And even if they do, they can’t hurt you.”
“Of course,” Kense said.
Daffodil rolled her shoulders. “Especially when we’re leading them in the other direction.”
Edmond glanced back at the battle. Only a few of their giants still stood. “We need to run.”
Chapter 27
Sneak Attack
Peony jogged up the hill, ignoring her legs’ suggestion of a gentle stroll. The weight of her mail and the sword banging with every step made the climb harder, but ‘alive and knackered’ beat ‘dead rested’ any day. At least she could wear them now she was away from the battle; carrying them at arms length so they wouldn’t sear her skin had taken her to the brink of going back.
The clangs and thuds of the battle were barely audible now, encouraging her to new effort and tugging her back at the same time. Head thrust forward, she pushed on.
“Slow down,” Rauger said. “We need to be careful. We don’t know who might see us.”
She remembered how close Gus had got without her noticing; and that had been while they were sneaking. She slackened her pace a little, letting Rauger catch up. He was right, they didn’t know who they might find between the army and Imperatis. But whatever it was, they’d deal with it.
Their armour and weapons were second to none. Her father wouldn’t have provided anything else. He’d even had them dulled down, so they didn’t catch the light and had that hard-bitten mercenary vibe. The only thing that could stop them would be—
“A giant.” Rauger pointed ahead to where an immense figure, clad only in ragged trousers, stood before an equally huge gate set into the cliff side.
“That has to be Imperatis’ fortress.” Peony craned up on tiptoes to get a better look. “We need to get past.”
Rauger yanked her down again and steered her into a group of pine trees. Once she was hidden, he slipped closer to the edge. “There are no other windows or doors. Just that one. He must be paranoid someone would come to kill him.”
“He’s given people reason to. Small creatures will scare the giant off. If we send a few rabbits his way, he’ll flee and we can go inside.”
“Wait here. I’ll trap some.” Rauger slipped away.
Marvelling at how athletic her boyfriend was, Peony turned her attention back to the cliff. There were several small caves in each direction. If they forced the giant into one of the smaller caves, he’d panic and flee. But she’d no way to do that, and the animals would work as well.
A short age later, Rauger returned, cupping two live rabbits to his chest. He crouched and handed one across. “How do we get them to the giant without it crushing us?”
“We walk straight up to him.” Peony smiled. It felt like a risky plan, but she knew they’d be safe. “Once he sees the rabbits, he’ll flee.”
Rauger frowned. After a moment, he nodded.
They strode toward the giant, the rabbits held ready. As soon as they left the trees, the giant peered at them, then lumbered toward them. Four ground-devouring strides later he was a stone’s throw from them
, fast enough to make the hill shake.
Peony and Rauger held their rabbits up for the giant to see, before setting them down to form a cute fuzzy barrier.
The giant, ignoring the terrifying whiffle of their noses and their devouring of grass, didn’t even slow. Too late, Peony realised if Imperatis could reprogram minds, then he could do it to a giant’s secondary brain.
She dove aside, the shadow of the giant’s fist wrapping her in darkness for a moment. Scrambling to her feet, she sprinted for the smallest caves. Jolts ran up her legs, each sooner than the last. The back of her neck tingled, but she didn’t look back. She already knew the giant was faster; seeing it wouldn’t help.
Rauger drew alongside her, his legs pumping.
A twitch of fear ran along her spine as something pressed against her back. An instant later, she realised it was Rauger’s arm. Half-carried, she plunged through the cave entrance. The rough walls snatched at their sleeves, but they kept going, all the way to the back. Lungs demanding a holiday, she sagged. A massive hand loomed toward her out of the gloom.
Jagged rock dug in as she backed harder against the wall. Panic fighting with her lungs demands for deep gulps, it took her a moment to realise the hand wasn’t getting closer; that the cave was so dark because the giant’s body was pressed across the entrance.
“He wasn’t scared of the rabbits,” Rauger said.
“Imperatis must’ve taken his fears away. He won’t even be scared of this cave. If he weren’t so big, he’d crawl in here and get us.”
The immense hand drew back. A massive beard and jutting eyebrows replaced them as the giant dropped to his hands and knees. After studying the cave entrance, he crawled closer, but his shoulders were too broad to fit through.
Rauger walked forward a few steps. “We should encourage him.”
“Encourage the giant trying to kill us?”
“Yep.” Rauger strolled closer to the giant. Stopping out of arm’s reach, he grinned. “In trouble?”
The giant lunged, shoulders striking chips from the cave walls in his struggle to get closer.
Rauger danced back a step, out of reach. Squaring himself up, he thumbed his nose. “If you weren’t such a big lummox, you might get me.”
The giant thrust his jaw out and shoved, more of his body following his shoulders into the cave.
Rauger backed off, still thumbing his nose, as—his jaw thrust out—the giant forced himself several feet deeper inside.
“That’s close enough, I think.” Rauger looked around the cave. Strolling over to a large rock, he lifted it then shuffled toward the giant. While avoiding the giant’s clutching hands, he heaved the boulder up and hurled it at the giant’s head.
A crack filled the cave as the rock broke in two on the giant’s forehead, both halves rolling away across the floor.
Eyes fixed on his average-sized tormentor, the giant clawed his fingers into the ground and heaved forward another pace.
Rauger sidled toward one half of the boulder and hurled it again.
The giant glared at him and twisted another half-a-pace into the cave.
Peony realised no amount of rocks would knock the giant out. He’d carry on until he reached… Rauger was close enough to be grabbed, but the giant hadn’t reached for him. The giant’s arms must be wedged under his body. Which gave Rauger and her a slim chance of escape. “We have to climb over him.”
“Climb over him?” Rauger stared at the struggling giant. “If he frees even a finger while we’re nearby, we’re done for.”
“Do you see another way out?”
Rauger didn’t bother looking. The walls were rough, but there was nowhere for another entrance to be hidden.
“I’ll go first.” Peony scurried to the giant before Rauger could protest.
The giant’s arms were pinned below him, but he glared at her as she approached. And the closer she got, the more he twisted and writhed. The gloom of the cave seemed to flicker in time with the thudding in her ears. She stuttered a breath before grabbing the giant’s bare shoulder and pulling herself onto his back.
The scent of sweat and rock dust choked her as she wriggled along his leathery spine. As her head passed his belt, she realised the flickering and thudding wasn’t panic. The giant’s upper body was pinned, but his legs weren’t. Thighs like trees trashed around, slamming leathery heels into the edges of the entrance hard enough to raise dust. The giant might not be able to grab them, but even a glancing blow from a leg would shatter most of her bones.
Rauger squeezed up next to her and stared at the flailing thews. After a moment’s consideration, he crawled backward. “Now we really have no choice.”
“What do you mean?” Peony craned her head around.
Sliding off the giant’s shoulder, Rauger drew his sword and lined up with the giant’s ear.
“He’s innocent,” Peony said. “It’s not his fault Imperatis sucked out his mind and replaced it with this murder machine.”
“He’s also not in there any more.” Rauger leaned forward with his whole body.
The giant growled and thrashed as the blade jerked and graunched into his head. Dark fluid washed across Rauger’s hands as the hilt reached the giant’s ear.
The giant’s shouting stopped.
But, if anything, his legs flailed harder.
Peony peered at the giant’s back. Even if they found the right place, there wasn’t space to stab the second brain.
Chapter 28
Inside
The thrashing grew jerkier, then stopped.
Peony gasped with relief, not caring that it filled her mouth with grit. The giant needed both brains to live. The second brain had just kept things going longer than with a human.
She clambered from the giant and staggered to her feet, Rauger close behind.
“Imperatis needs to die,” she said. “I can’t watch him do this to anyone else.”
“He will.” Rauger marched toward the gate. “We’ll make sure of it.”
The gate loomed taller as they approached, too massive for anything other than a giant to open. However, as they reached it, she spotted a small handle almost flush with the surface. Ready to leap back, she pulled.
And almost fell over as the gate swung open without effort.
Rauger glanced through the gap. “There’ll be more guards. We need to move quietly. Stay back and I’ll deal with them.”
She ignored the implication she was clumsy and needed to stay back. Somehow having Rauger draw attention to her flaws didn’t hurt now she knew he liked her.
The massive corridor opened into an odd vault with doors leading off each side. After a moment, she realised it seemed strange because—apart from the lack of sky—it looked like the courtyard at home.
Rauger sneaked to one of the smaller doors and slipped inside, disappearing from view.
She hurried after, shoulders hunched and gaze flicking in all directions. The courtyard was empty. In her experience of creeping through castles, courtyards were never empty. The air carried a hint of blood too. It screamed trap; as if any moment all of Imperatis’ soldiers might spring from a door and attack her. She ducked through the doorway and stumbled.
Palm grating on the wall, she stopped herself before she landed on the dead guard at her feet. He stared up at her with accusing eyes, his neck still pulsing blood. Rauger hadn’t even slowed down after dispatching the man. He was already on the far side of the courtyard.
Stepping wide to avoid the lake of blood beneath the dead guard’s head, she stumbled past. At least a neck wound was a quick and painless death—comparatively speaking.
Rauger glanced back at her before slipping around a corner. She did her best to match his lack of noise.
Another dead guard lay halfway along the next corridor. A tendril of worry wrapped around her stomach. She hadn’t even heard the fight. Rauger killed them almost without effort. They might be under Imperatis’ control, but otherwise the guards were innocent. Did taking a l
ife mean nothing to him?
She shook the thought off. If that were the case, he wouldn’t have defended her a hundred times since Rockpoint. Life was important, but these guards were already more dead than alive.
They continued through the corridors, the occasional guard only a momentary hindrance for Rauger.
Fresh tendrils of fear slid their way into her thoughts. Where was everyone? Castles were never this empty. Her parents had more guards on the privies than they’d met in Imperatis’ entire castle.
Although, the mind mage would need soldiers to replace the ones he’d lost in the first battle. Maybe he hadn’t expected anyone to creep past his army, overcome his giant, and sneak in without alerting his guards.
A gentle glow wrapped around her. Despite her just wandering along after Rauger, the guard’s deaths had levelled them both up again. She caught up with Rauger and stared at his back. “Level 3 and both points in Dexterity. You’re up to nine now.”
He stared at her dreamily, before shaking himself. “You got Luck and Intelligence. Now quiet. I think we’re coming to the inner chambers.”
She looked at the door ahead. Unlike the others, thick iron bands jutted across studded oak planks.
Rauger cracked it open, then closed it again. “Four guards. Too many for me to sneak up on. Can you distract them long enough for me to take care of them?”
“Right.” She took a deep breath. She was good at being spotted; the problem would be not getting caught too quickly. “I’ll go in first and lead them away from this door.”
Her hands and feet felt tingly. And there was a hissing sound. She fumbled for her sword, yanking it free on the second attempt. Pushing through her fear, she shoved the door open and ran inside.
The guards clustered around a set of ornate double doors to her right. She dashed to the far side of the room before facing them with her shield and sword raised.
Blank eyes tracking her movements, they seemed more like zombies than humans. The guards spread out, approaching from all directions at once. They intend to strike at the same time, giving her no way to defend herself.