by Rosie Scott
“Ambush,” I murmured. Beside me, Azazel nodded once.
I turned to the Sentinels. “We need golems. Get every earth and death dual caster you have to build at least two.”
Zephyr glanced toward the gate. “You think it's a poison ambush?”
“Without a doubt,” I replied. “When Azazel checked for life, the dwarves were spread out. Behind siege weapons, probably. They plan on us filing our army through and being vulnerable to widespread alchemical agents. Golems don't breathe. We'll send them through.”
“Golems also don't think, Kai,” Kirek pointed out. “With us outside of this wall, our men won't be able to direct them to any enemies.”
“So we'll send someone in who will draw attention,” I said. “If an ally of their caster is threatened, the golems will attack regardless of whether their master is with them or not.” I turned to Calder and Mirrikh and made a 'come here' motion. “Mirrikh.”
Mirrikh sauntered over, biting his bottom lip with barely contained desire. “Yes, beautiful?”
“I have a job for you.”
“I'm sure you do.” Mirrikh's dark eyes moved over to Cerin, and he grinned. “You can count on me to get the job done whenever he disappoints.”
“I seem a little more bearable whenever Mirrikh's like this, don't I?” Calder murmured to Cerin.
“No, not really,” Cerin replied, to which I couldn't contain a smile.
“When you are transformed,” I began, as Mirrikh continued to ogle me, “how protected are you from poisons and acids that hit you from the exterior?”
“I've never had a chance to find out,” Mirrikh admitted. “But the exoskeleton protects me from most things other than puncture wounds. I'd have to assume most of it would roll right off. Except for the mental poisons, of course.” He smiled charmingly at me.
“There's a poisonous ambush right on the other side of that gate,” I told him, pointing to it. “I need someone to draw attention from the dwarves so the golems know who to target.”
“And you want me,” Mirrikh mused, his voice little more than a purr.
“To do that, yes.”
“What will you give me if I do?” Mirrikh's eyes traveled down the length of me.
“Mirrikh.” Calder stepped forward, snapping his fingers before the other man's eyes. “Focus.”
“I am focusing.”
“On the wrong thing.” Calder pointed to the gate. “Do you think you can draw attention and be safe from the poisons?”
“I'd like a little incentive, Alastor,” Mirrikh replied, before glancing back to Cerin. “Just one night, pale one. Give me that.”
“Mirrikh.” I drew his gaze back to me. “I will find someone else if you can't focus. I need this done right.”
He grinned at me. “You just want to see me undress and transform.”
“If believing that will get you to work, I sure do,” I retorted.
Mirrikh immediately started to pull off his clothes. “I'll get it done, fiery one. Make sure to get a good look in now, because my transformation can be quite graphic.”
Kirek scoffed with distaste once Mirrikh was fully nude, for his sexual arousal was even more apparent by his erection. “This is disturbing,” she commented, turning around.
“Poor thing hasn't seen one in decades,” Calder jested under his breath.
“Because they all go soft around her,” Nyx added, and the two burst into juvenile chuckles.
“You can volunteer to take his place, Kirek,” I spoke up, as Mirrikh whispered his spell of transformation.
“I'll abide by your judgment,” Kirek replied, her voice muffled as she faced away.
Mirrikh fell forward, landing face-first on a bed of pine needles as if he'd suddenly been paralyzed. Crackling reverberated out of his torso as it flattened and widened, his dark skin hardening into a thick shell. Segments slowly cracked and separated, and the exoskeleton which developed over his chest slid forward, encasing his neck and head in an elongated carapace. Both long arms built mass and broke apart into two separate points of pedipalps. To the contrary, much of his legs were absorbed into his lower abdomen, leaving two thin, shelled limbs.
I was both horrified and fascinated by watching Mirrikh's transformation, for even when he was halfway through it, it seemed to be going wrong. Only his pedipalps and two of eight legs were developed, leaving him in a collapsed mess of growing, shuddering exoskeleton.
“Stand back, love,” Calder murmured, pulling me back from the scorpion-kin a few feet.
Crack! A new segment of forming shell burst out of the back of Mirrikh's long abdomen, surrounded by a spray of green blood. Pine needles sizzled and smoked with acid before they were hidden in the shadow of a thick growing tail. The scorpion-kin chattered nervously in anticipation of further pain just before three additional sets of legs burst out of his sides, growing in length before bending at developing joints and turning toward the ground.
Mirrikh dug all sets of legs into the forest floor and finally lifted up his massive shelled body, curling the tail until the stinger pointed at his head. The scorpion-kin shook for a moment in seizure, and then his beady black eyes suddenly sparkled with new nervous energy.
“Did Mirrikh's personality just change as his blood-kin?” Azazel asked, noticing the difference.
Calder nodded. “Trauma tends to trigger it a lot.”
“What a shame,” Nyx commented, jabbing me in the side. “I was ready to watch the world's weirdest love story between you two.”
I smirked at Nyx's jest and directed my attention to the few dozen mages which had summoned golems. Just before I could speak, the last echoes of a distant explosion bounced off of the nearby tree trunks from the southwest. Altan, Marcus, and Dax were coming across dwarven explosives near the city's other entry point. I could only hope that they'd been aptly warned by hearing the explosions near us and had found some way to set them off without casualties.
“Mirrikh,” I began, “find and disable dwarven defenders. Those of you with golems, send them alongside Mirrikh. Once the defenses are down, we will launch our assault.”
Thirty-three
Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
The large wooden gate crashed inward at the mercy of an onslaught of stone and metal fists. The dwarves had secured it with a thick drawbar made of solid timber, but the strength of dozens of golems had broken the gate off of its hinges, rendering the rest of the defenses moot. The doors fell flat and stirred up clouds of dust. Mirrikh and the golems charged forth with little fear as the reverberations of firing onagers echoed over the wooden wall.
The path just inside the gate was inundated with liquid acids. The alchemical mixture sizzled as it ate through the wood of the fallen gate and organic matter, but it rolled off of exoskeleton and the earthen golems without leaving a mark. Orders were yelled beyond the wall as the dwarves prepared to switch their ammo to something that would work.
I could see little through the fallen gate, so I lifted up a palm and sought life. Red blobs of energy were rushing around their areas, preparing new ammo and jerking as they fired siege weapons with a robust effort. One of the figures stilled as if paralyzed, and then the red blob of energy was split into three falling segments before it dissipated. Memories of Theron's similar death swirled in my mind, and I dispelled the alteration magic.
When Mirrikh glided past the gate on his pointed legs, multiple golems followed, alerted to new foes as the group of them were barraged with ammo. A few of the balls broke open into poisons, but they had no effect. The solid stone ammo shattered into both Mirrikh and his companions with far better results. The arms and legs of golems were chipped and destroyed, and one of Mirrikh's many legs was lopped straight off at its joint with a direct hit. Mirrikh squealed in pain as the broken limb leaked acidic blood.
Movement in my peripheral vision pulled my attention to Calder, who was in the midst of undressing. “What are you doing, Cal?” I questioned.
“Giving Mirrikh support,”
he replied, Koby's key necklace glimmering against his bare chest as his shirt fluttered to the ground.
“You could walk in there and be burned alive,” I warned.
“That's a risk I'll take,” Calder said, pulling his feet out of worn and laceless boots. “He's being bombarded, love.” His blood red eyes pleaded for my understanding.
I exhaled slowly and nodded. “All right. I'll be right behind you.”
Calder smiled at me before turning toward his army. “Beastmen! Transform! Assassins, you're with Kai!”
The Griswald Forest resounded with the cracks and pops of thousands of skeletal systems breaking and rebuilding. Over the wall, the onagers continued to fire. The path just beyond the gate was spotted with stone and metal debris from broken golems.
“Don't worry, Kai,” Uriel said to me, using alteration magic to show me signs of life beyond the wall. Few of the dwarves manning siege weapons were left. “They've nearly knocked them out. We'd be ready to go in, anyway.” He dispelled his magic just to build up a life shield that he gave to me, remembering that my energy reserves were low.
“I'll pay you back,” I offered.
Uriel grinned. “I know.”
Calder and his beastmen charged through the destroyed gate in a flurry of scales, fur, and feathers. I ordered my own army into the city behind him, giving the beasts a head start to get the most out of their berserk fighting style. Once within the wall, the previously hidden sight of Griswald revealed itself.
Log cabins large and small were scattered across the incline of the lower mountain, some of them bearing signs advertising goods and services. Most of the lower city was built in and around the still-growing forest, for conifers rose high beside buildings and alongside dirt paths. Throughout the city's avenues, greedy tree roots veined just above ground level as if desperately reminding the dwarves that the plant-life could reclaim the area if it so wished. The lowest district of Griswald was a segue between the lumber camps outside the first wall and the residential neighborhoods farther up on its mountain, using the resources of the first to supply the latter.
Most of this district was already clear. Civilians and workers had been pulled from the area, leaving the streets open and empty for the set-up of their ambush. Onagers sat in alleyways and open roads, all of them facing the front gate. Mirrikh and the golems had cleared most of the dwarves utilizing them, and some of the siege weapons were broken or in need of repair. Calder and his beastmen rampaged through the city streets ahead as Cerin hurried to heal Mirrikh's broken leg.
Higher up in Griswald, the forest's claim of the area diminished. As the land grew rockier, so did the city itself. Buildings were now built out of stone and metal, and they were cluttered over the mountainside as if they were overloaded captives in a dungeon cell made of city walls. The alleyways were so claustrophobic that I couldn't imagine even one dwarf fitting through. The nearby forest kept most of the city in shadow, even still. Ahead, all pathways merged into one that delved into the mountain. Between us and our destination were hundreds of dwarves with a variety of traps.
Hammerton was aware that our invasion was beyond them in numbers. I imagined they'd sent desperate pleas to Chairel for support, but any armies prepared had not yet arrived. The dwarves were alone, and in Griswald, they were vastly outnumbered. Their decision to whittle down our army here was an intelligent one, for this city seemed to be set up for such a purpose.
Two wide main roads led from the forest gates to the entrance of the mountain, one on each of the city's outer edges. All crossroads and side streets connected to one of the two, but our armies were too large to reliably travel on anything other than the main roads. The Hammerton Army had prepared for this, setting up anti-infantry siege weapons on top of buildings. Ballistae, cannons, onagers, and repeater crossbows the size of which I hadn't seen since the naval battle of Narangar all stared down upon us from the rooftops. Just before them, the second wall of Griswald stood tall above the lower districts, allowing just enough room for the streets on our side of the gate to be targeted by the defenders.
The dwarves did not yet attack. Our armies were beyond the reach of their siege weapons, and their men were still out of range of our mages and archers, save for Azazel. My best friend walked up to be beside me, and though he held his bow at the ready, he did not yet shoot.
“We cannot rely on the flying beastmen,” Azazel said. “They will be slaughtered by those crossbows.”
I nodded, remembering how quickly the one at Narangar had fired. “We can't rely on any one unit of our army for this one. We'll have to work together. I have an idea.”
“Of course you do,” Azazel teased.
I turned toward my army. Many of the men and women were my own volunteer soldiers of various races and skills, but many of them were the assassins that Calder had left me in charge of. “Nyx,” I started, “I need you.”
“Whatever you say, boss,” she replied, grinning as she walked up to me.
“While our army's on this right path, we're going to wait for Altan and the others to arrive over on the left path,” I told her, pointing to the southern side of Griswald. “In the meantime, I want you and the other assassins to get lost in this city. Infiltrate it as far as you can go up the mountain. Than told us weeks ago that the wall is easy enough to breach for an assassin.”
“You want us doing all the work again like in Olympia?” Nyx asked, glancing up at the waiting dwarves. “Take everything out before you can get to it?”
“Not necessarily,” I replied. “Be prepared to attack, but don't quite yet. These alleyways are so tiny that even if some of you are seen, the siege weapons will be mostly useless against you. I want the dwarves focused on us as we come up the mountain, but taking out all of their defenses is going to be hell from below. They plan to bombard us as we ascend. I want to feign giving into that plan while you come out and attack them from the shadows. We will be your distraction.”
“So...basically...” Nyx trailed off, trying to understand. “We should get close, lie in wait until we hear signs of battle, then attack.”
“Right,” I agreed. “You have enough time until Altan arrives to get into position. I doubt he'll hesitate for very long before sending his army up the path. I want you to relay these orders to the others quietly and then go about it. If the dwarves see me giving orders to the assassins they might expect such a plan.”
“Okay,” Nyx said. “I think I can handle that.” She lifted one hand to her forehead in a playful salute before she hurried off.
The assassins were given their orders and dispersed into the alleyways and side streets of Griswald. Many of those who knew illusion magic cast invisibility and the shadows only helped to conceal them as they slowly moved up the mountain. The city was eerily quiet as our two armies watched each other from a distance, just waiting for someone to make a move. It reminded me so much of the Battle of the Dead a decade prior when I'd refused to attack to goad Terran into charging with his tiring cavalry. Thoughts of my brother only caused a ball of anxiety to grow in my gut. It had been so long since Cerin admitted his concerns to me, and Chairel had not yet shown up in Hammerton. There was no doubt in my mind that Chairel was preparing armies if they hadn't already been sent. The only remaining question was whether or not Terran would be leading one.
In either case, the only extra support Griswald had right now came in the form of the prisoners of war they'd rescued from Olympia. The exterior of the city was laden with traps, but I assumed their dominant fighting force was in wait in the mountain itself.
HUUURRRNNNNN!
The war horn tore me from my thoughts. Far away on the other main road, a man with bright red spiky hair was waving toward us wildly. The armies belonging to Altan and Dax both kept to the side of their main path as Marcus and the other giants trudged ahead. Where I had chosen to use the assassins to disable the defenses as we distracted them, Altan had decided his best option was to send the giants to take the brunt of the damag
e. After all, few of the dwarves had been able to land fatal hits on the giants with siege weapons in Olympia.
Marcus came to a stop at the front of his army. He gave the other giants orders I couldn't ascertain from our distance, and a few of them with ranged weapons walked forward. One of the giants had a massive slingshot in her hand, and the bag hanging by her waist was holding ammo large enough to be used in siege weapons. Perhaps she'd picked it up from their last battle near the first wall. Another giant held two conifer trees like they were merely clunky weapons. One of the trees was scorched and frayed as if it had been caught in an explosion. I realized that the other armies could have gotten through the dwarven explosives just by using the giants to throw the trees themselves to trigger the traps. I hoped that meant they had fewer casualties than we did.
Altan lifted the war horn to his lips and blew through it again. Yards away from me, Cyrus returned the call.
Our armies charged. Marcus's army on the southern path lumbered forward, launching ranged attacks at both the wall and the defenders on the roofs. The giant holding the two uprooted trees threw one of them over the wall. The trunk spun rapidly over many rooftops before it crashed straight through an onager and its operator. Blood and splinters of wood exploded out from the tree as it continued on its course, smashing through a number of other defenses before it rammed into a building, cracking stone and falling across the main road in pieces. The other tree was kept under an arm as its wielder rushed up to the sturdy wall blocking our armies from the upper city. Soon, the tree was held horizontally over the ground and used against the gate like a battering ram.
On our side, morale was fairly low. Our army was massive, but it was terrifying charging forth while facing dozens of siege weapons. The dwarves were under assault from our archers, but few arrows hit. I needed energy, but I didn't want to use enervat to leech from a distance since there was a risk of hitting assassins. I couldn't see any of the Alderi working over the wall. That either meant most of them were invisible, or they hadn't had enough time to prepare.
