by Pwyll Duggan
Sitting by the road, everything delivered, Mary lowers herself next to me on one side, Nyssa on the other. Nyssa places a hand on my arm as Mary starts talking in a low voice.
"It's not your fault Master. You are a reminder of what happened, what she lost. Take the lead and don't look back." Nyssa's nodding along with her, chitinous fingers tapping on my upper arm armour.
"You can't save everyone Paul. It is what it is. Garrot will bring her spirit back. It just takes more time than we all want it too." I place my Helmet onto my lap and run a hand along my scalp as I drink from a waterskin. Growling, I reply.
"Doesn't mean I have to like it."
Replacing my helmet as I stand, I offer a hand to Nyssa and Mary to help them rise. Looking at everyone I speak up.
"Best speed to the Ring Road and Cratertown. Let's see what's going on down there and make sure nothing can leave the crater." Nods all round are my answer as I turn up the road and leave at a jog. My companions follow.
We're just not the first ones there.
Chapter 8
Garrot crouches down next to my prone form, few hundred feet from the ramp down the side of the crater. The tall dry grass masks us from sight. Drawing a map of the crater on the ground to show positions he whispers the report.
"Lamia's. Lots of Lamia's. Three patrols guard the barricade we left at the ramp. An armoured force is fighting its way slowly to the mine entrance. Using some sort of spear formation, all in a square, caster and healers in the centre. Lilly thinks there are forty down there. And they are a lot tougher than the patrols. Fireballs are being used."
They don't know we cleared out the Mother Harpy's Roost, or they are here for something else. Need to make sure they don't get what they are after and they never leave. If no-one lives to report what happened here, it'll cause their leaders to rethink their future plans around here. We still must clear as many dead as possible, but now we can let them do the heavy lifting before we go reaping.
I explain what I need.
"Let's sneak up and take the barricade. Then everyone not guarding bundles up this dry grass in logs. Let’s burn down all the buildings lining the crater wall, scare out more of the Dead and give them nowhere to hide. Then we watch the fun. If the Lamia approach the mine, we wait up top and play ‘pepper the snakes with arrows’ while they fight. If they try to retake the ramp, we do the same - with more fire. More fire is always good." Garrot gives an evil grin and sneaks off as the rest of us head closure to the ramp.
Surprising no-one at all, Mary and I stand out in the high grass. Her being horse sized and me just not giving a fuck as we walk towards the improvised barricade blocking the top of the ramp. Tower shield out, Princess in hand I stride forward, keeping pace with Mary. She’s fully armoured, same helm as me with a red crest, well mane for her, flowing from the top and down her back. Heavy spear forward, Kite shield to the side. The blade on the spear is as long as a sword, bright bronze coloured cross guard at the top of its heavy shaft, just as the wood starts.
The Lamia are pointing us out, bows out ready. Mary slowly speeds up, making it harder to keep up. Shouts start as the arrows fly at us. Lamia bows are powerful, with long arrows, showing off their pull strength. Mary cares not, flicking her shield, bouncing arrows aside that she needs to. She's at speed now, leaving me in the dust. She slams into the middle of the first groups, coiled snakes bursting in all directions, spear flashing, shield blocking. She's moved the whole width of the ramp, fighting near the edge of the crater there. Some lamia's turn to her, sealing their fate.
I trigger charge, blurring with speed, hitting those three in the back, bodies flying over the edge, weapons scattering. Princess sings as she bisects another. In those short seconds, ten enemies dropped to three, then none as they sprouted feathers in their backs, bloody metal poking out the front of their chests. The elves rush forward, taking positions on the barricade. A happy whistling joins us, Nyssa at his side.
"Told ya your man had this. No, he'll have us do the grunt work, just you see."
Niall's right. Mary stands watch, tall and proud. Aron gathers the Lamia's weapons and gear while the rest of us sit cross legged, bundling grass.
"Make it packed together, just getting your fingers around it. Then double a long piece of grass. Wrap it around, then tie like this. Do that at each end and the middle. That gets us a grass log." Nyssa shows her partially unwilling students, Niall grumbling about the cost in ale for all this.
After the pile of grass logs is about a third of what I want, Mary calls out.
"They're stopping the formation. 500 feet from the entrance Master. Hope you don't mind, but they looked like they needed a wave hello."
I watch her bend over, grab one of the Lamia I harvested. She holds it high, wiggles it in a wave then tosses the body over the crater's edge. As the corpse starts its fall, her spear arcs out, blade removing the head. I think she's getting the point across to them.
"They're holding ground. Seems the middle group of leaders are arguing. Can almost make out the shouts."
She’s taking pleasure in this, seeing some of her former captors getting theirs. The grass logs pile high and I send off Lilly and Aron under the watchful guard of their parents to get the ball rolling. Lilly gets close to the edge. Aron holds out a log, pours a small line of oil along its length. Lilly takes it, lights one end with her torch and waits a few moments. As the fire really catches the log, she drops it down onto the ruined building below. Each building gets three or four of those, until something catches on fire down there, then they move to the next.
It isn't until building ten or eleven that the first bursts into flames, sending it occupants out into the crater. A small group of Dead, running from the fire come out, see the Lamia square clashing with more Dead, scream, moan and head that way. The scene repeats itself as more buildings erupt in flame. Lilly and company are now running around the crater, going for speed now. The waves of Dead vary in size, but all crash forward into the Lamia's shield wall.
Taking their time to decide their best course of action costs the Lamias. The moans of the Dead get louder and start attracting even more Dead from the mines. At first one or two exit the mine entrance, looking for the excitement. After a few minutes more come, add to the noise, dragging more out of the depths. The Spear square turns, heading back to the ramp. Niall is giving a blow by blow commentary from Mary's side. He's perched himself up on a barricade, after being slapped for trying to climb on Mary's back.
"Wedge you morons, form a wedge. Clear with those Fireballs, don't shoot them backwards. And there she goes, ripped from the square. Bye bye Lamia goodbye, may I hear you children cry - you bitch! Oh lord and master they are halfway back to the ramp. Gives you five minutes of fun crafting time." I gesture to Nyssa at the buildings on the other side of the ramp.
"If you would my dear." I bow low to her. She curtsies, as strange as that looks for an arachne.
"My pleasure dear." She takes off, bundle of grass logs on her back, hands playing with an oil bottle.
She lights up the five nearest buildings and comes trotting back, all nonchalant. She brushes her hands off each other, cracks her wrists and flicks, wand appearing in hand. She looks down the ramp at the approaching Lamia. She scans the crater's edge, seeing Garrot's family over the mine entrance, still sending logs of grass down to their doom. She starts giving orders, getting Niall's and Mary's attention.
"I'll lead with a fireball or two, clearing the riff raff in front of the Lamias. Mary keeps anything off the barricade with Niall. Niall, buff what you can to Paul as he clears them as they come. Paul shoot a few of those Delay shots from the top of the barricade - get those mages out early. Then go to town, harvest them as they come. I'll be ranged support. Not that many Dead leaving the mines now, so we should be done in time for a camp out lunch. Any questions?" we all look at each other, Niall and I both say "No Ma'am' at the same time.
The lamia are almost in full rout now, various armoured form
s left behind surround by Dead. They hit the ramp base running, still a good four to five hundred feet away. The bow I picked out is ready, quiver by my side, awaiting Nyssa's first move. She jumps over the barricade and runs where it joins the cliff wall going down and runs along the wall. Horizontally. Wall climbing? wall crawling along it better than that guy in red tights does, hands free and wand flashing.
Fireballs streak down in a line, exploding in the lead waves of Dead and Lamia. As they explode. she turns, going up the cliff face and over the edge, onto the grasslands and out of sight. I nock and draw, sending the first arrow down once I see an armoured snake head. She falls into the crowd. Then there's a pop as ice shoots out, covering the leading wall of Lamias. I drop down in front of the barricade as ice shards shoot out from the crowd, shattering the Lamia and Dead alike.
Niall pulls out a small flute, puts it to his lips and plays. The melody is slow and calming, cooling my ears as it enters. My breath mists as I feel the temperature drop like a stone, ice forming in the patch in front of me, the tune changes, weaving in a little upbeat melody making my spirits rise. Small bolts of fire rain down into the mass before me, Nyssa shooting over the edge of the crater. Shield out, Princess out horizontally to my side. I start reaping.
It's a slaughter. The Dead no threat to me all armoured up, Princess slicing thru them without noticing. Dried up husks sometimes explode in dust, others just split in two. The first Lamia is shocked when she sees me, pushing her way thru the mass of dead and Dead. Princess removes her head, then comes down hard on the next one's helmet, splitting it. I step forward, searching for robes among the plate mail before me. I hunker down behind my shield, sending a fireball out low into the feet before me. Ten foot in it explodes, bodies and flames cover me. I rock back feeling singed but little else. Too many bodies in the blast, I guess.
I stand and keep swinging, cutting everything down before me. The panic in the Lamias eyes turns to shock once they see me. Like them, it doesn't last long. The odd arrow and spear thrust picks off anyone not Dead as they appear. Before long I'm standing in a pile of bodies, swing Princess back and forth in front of me, cutting up Dead. It's neither difficult nor much fun yet has to be done.
As the Dead now come in smaller waves, and Garrot's lot are making them pin cushions before they can get within ten yards of me, I return up the ramp and vault the barricade. Sitting with my back to the tiny part of the cliff edge I get my breathing under control, remove my helm and place it on the ground beside me. A silk covered hand passes me a waterskin and I drink deep. I pour some over my face, washing of dust and blood mixed with sweat, and lean my head back on the stone.
I close my eyes, just listening to her breathing, louder than the flames burning in the distance. Her voice is low and filled with worry.
"I had no idea you were that powerful." I rock my head back and forth on the wall.
"I'm not. That was all of us, as a team. Niall's annoying pipes slowing things down, keeping me cool in this heat and my stamina up. Mary watching my back, skewering anything I missed. You are leading the attack, wiping out their vanguard and distracting them for me to freeze the next few ranks. Then it was just cutting and slicing. Hell, we didn't get Garrot to fight, just do the distraction. With their four bows, I would only get to fight once they ran out of arrows." I take another long swig, laying the skin on my forehead to cool it down.
I rock my head to her side and open my eyes.
"As a team we are stronger than our parts. That's how it works." She's watching me, but her eyes are unfocused, her brain going over everything. I look to the sky and continue.
"The more people The Grove has, the stronger they are, the better off we'll be. Protects everyone and if they work together maybe everyone can get along." I sigh and put a handout.
"Where's my riceballs? And a few meat bun things. Please." Gets me a quiet laugh and a kiss on the cheek.
Chapter 9
After breaking for an early lunch, we sort through the piles of dead. Mary stands guard again as the others all pile up the loot. Nyssa's guiding people to any items of magic while I sit and examine the Lamia spears. The long-bladed heads of each spear, the same one Mary uses, are the same. The tiny runes on each spear head, enchanting the metal's hardness, keeping the sharpness on the cutting blade and point. It lowers the need for maintenance, keeping it razor sharp and defeating normal armour with some ease.
Spears are easy to use. Easy to train newbies to wield, like conscripts. And as their spear square showed, easy to defeat monsters, or armies that don't prepare for it. I grab another spear, examining its head. They bother me, something about them. I remove my gauntlets, running my fingertips over the runes. I grab another and do it again. Then another. Shit. Could they? I shout.
"Niall! Nyssa!" Items drop to the ground and they come over in a rush.
"Look at the runes on these spear heads. They don't seem... normal. Tell me I'm wrong about them." Niall plonks himself down, laying one over his crossed legs, peering down. Nyssa takes one, her eight legs fold down and grabs another, hold both heads near all her eyes. Niall runs his fingers across the runes also, mumbling, his other hand tracing patterns in the air. Spirita trickles down from the air, highlighting the runes.
Nyssa gone into scholar mode, talking to herself.
"Local metal. Hardened in a spirita fire forge. Runes are standard format, spacing a little more even. Yet also very rough, as if the enchanter’s hands were unsteady. Second head is also the same. Blade dimensions the same. Wait. Blades dimensions are exactly the same. She drops one spear and twists her waist, going for the packs on her back.
Niall is studying the now glowing runes, whistling softly, pushing the pulsating spirita back and forth along the runes, making sections easier to see. His brow furrows here and there. He swaps spear heads, leaving the first on his lap so he can compare. Nyssa's measuring the heads, and then the runes, using odd glass magnifiers and small tweezer like rulers. Niall lets out a low whistle then goes silent. Nyssa looks up at that, eyes refocusing on me.
"Ladies first please." Niall nods his head Nyssa's way. She grins.
"The Lamia have some way to speed up the process to make these. The runes are stamped on, likely just after forging. The enchanter just fills these runes with her spirita and bang - magic spear. They do something when they attach the shaft and during sharpening and polishing to make it last a long time. But they are not permanent runes. The spirita will drain, probably in a few years." She takes a breath, looking at me directly.
"What should take a week or two, to enchant an already crafted blade, turns to now maybe one day, even less with a few enchanters channelling their spirita."
She scuttles over to the pile of armour, studying them.
"Not on the armour thank the gods. But still, that’s an easy way to equip an army." Garrot's interest is peaked.
"What's going on." Niall answers before I do.
"Stupid snakes can make magic spears really fast. Means life just got more complicated." I pinch the bridge of my nose. I live in that Chinese curse - may you live in interesting times. Shit. How does this tie in with everything else? I wave my hand around.
"Speed it up. Bundle what we can use, repair the barricade. I'll go see what can be done about the mine entrance." Gauntlets and helm back on I head down the ramp, kicking bodies out of the way as I go.
The mine entrance is huge. Too huge. There's nothing that can cover it, no way for me to blow it up and collapse it. I hear Nyssa walking up behind me, hands resting on my shoulders. She leans down to my ear.
"I've got this. You drag things for the barricade. The sooner we're back at The Grove, the sooner you can show me you love me." That gets my mind on another topic real fast. Tilting my helm back, I give her a quick kiss and run off. Work to do.
An hour or so passes, sun just past its zenith now. I'm covered in ash and grime from everything I dragged up the ramp. Aron and Lilly have stakes pointing down the ramp now, a nice little
field for things to impale themselves on. The barricade is twice as thick, taller to boot. Washing myself off as I hear Nyssa come back. Her eyes are tired, red and sunken. She looks exhausted. She stops next to me.
"Carry me home. I think I overdid the whole web building bit." The mine entrance is a mass of webs. All of varying thickness and size, looking like three giant spiders have covered the front. Smaller ones inside and others around the side. Some even at the bottom of the ramp.
She crashes down, gulping down riceballs from each hand, barely chewing at all. Doesn't stop the rice failing down her robe and bouncing off her leg armour. I hold out a waterskin that disappears too quickly, hand demanding another. I wash off, passing things she needs as required. Storage can be really useful. Garrot wanders over.
"You two start back. We'll catch up. Only a few fingers of time and we'll be as done as we can be."
"Thanks." I turn to Nyssa. "Uppsy Daisy little Nyssa, time to go home."
Re-armoured, re-enhanced and Nyssa's enhanced also we head out. Slowly walking back the way we came, not trying for stealth. We walk side by side in silence until she grabs my right hand and leans on me as we walk. Damn lucky I'm strong enough for that, considering what she weighs. We hit the ring road just as the others catch up to us. Aron and Lilly smile at us, then each disappears off to a side, scouting and covering the group. Niall starts his walking whistle, making it easier for us all.
By my reckoning we hit The Grove's influence by 2 and cross the lake by 3. I take Nyssa and let her crash at home and leave her in peace. Niall has the lab table full again. Trinkets, a few swords, 40 plus spears and bows with arrows dotted all over the place. Cataloguing away, his head down, he waves me away.
"Off to Merryn's ya big dope. Let me work and bring back some ale or ten. After she cuts you up and does disgusting things to you."
