Last Bastion

by Rachel Aaron

  "Frank!" Tina screamed frantically, bracing her shield against the gap in the slowly closing doors. "Help me!"

  Her fellow tank ran up behind her, locking his shield with hers.

  "Ground on three," Tina ordered, staring down the boar that was plowing toward them. "One, two, three! Steady Ground!"

  "Steady Ground!" Frank yelled a heartbeat later.

  The two of them became one with the ground below the paving stones just in time. The giant boar crashed into the gates like a runaway school bus. Even with Steady Ground, the impact was still enough to slam Tina's shield back into her, cracking her in the jaw so hard she blacked out for a second. It was only her Steady Ground ability that kept her from failing in her job as the world's most epic doorstop. Outside, the giant boar screamed and rammed its metal-capped tusks into the doors, raining splinters and chunks of zombie down on top of her as the closing gates stopped then started moving back inward.

  "Everyone push!" Tina yelled, bracing against the doors, which the boar's attacks were pounding back open. "Don't let them in!"

  Bodies slammed into her back as the crowd behind her--her Roughnecks, Cinco's Red Sands, random members of the king's guard, everyone--crammed in behind the gates and pushed with all their strength. Outside, arrows--normal ones from the castle guards and glowing ones from the player Rangers--rained down from the battlements onto the giant boar's back.

  The raid boss squealed and snorted as the damage poured down, but it didn't let up. It was still going strong when Tina and Frank's Steady Ground faded, and they began to slide back.

  "Push harder!" Tina yelled, shoving her shield into the monster boar's rotting snout. "Don't let up!"

  By this point, the whole courtyard was pushing together. Thousands of people--players and non-players--were all shoving together, but the boar had help as well. Mountains of zombies were piling up on either side of the boar, crawling on top of each other to press their combined weight against the gates. As more and more piled on, the gates began to buckle inward. Staring up at the giant boar and the wall of zombies around it, Tina began to worry that this was the end. She was putting all her strength into her shield for a final shield slam before she was crushed when a burst of golden light flashed in the sky.

  Tina felt the magic before she saw it. The Bastion's golden light spread out from the castle in a wave of power, covering the castle and pushing back the undead. All at once, the pressure on Tina's shield vanished. The doors they'd been so desperately fighting to hold slammed shut a second later, then Tina was crushed against the wood by the combined force of everyone behind her. She was still getting up when two twelve-man teams of castle guards rushed forward, carrying giant wooden crossbeams, which they wedged against the doors.

  More beams followed. By the time the castle guard was done, every piece of wood in the castle seemed to be braced against the front gates. Smiling at the ridiculous woodpile, Tina looked up to see the golden shield of the Bastion covering the castle like a bell jar. It didn't go much past the castle walls--a far cry from the city-covering shield that had gone up two days ago--but it didn't need to. Everyone left alive in the city was here, safe inside the barrier. And from the furious screams of the damned, the undead knew it.

  "Huh." Killbox snorted, looking up the wall at the deafening wailing going on outside. "What a bunch of sore losers."

  Tina looked around at the crowded courtyard, which wasn't nearly as packed as it should have been. Bastion was supposed to be a city of hundreds of thousands, but there couldn't have been a tenth that many in here, including the players.

  "More like sore winners," she said quietly, nodding at the Bastion's golden shield. "We stopped them for now, but this thing's already on its last legs. When the shield goes down, where are we going to go?"

  The Berserker had no answer for that. He just stood next to her, both of them propping up Frank, whose legs had given out now that the battle was finally over, and stared at the reinforced gate, which was never going to hold once the Bastion's golden protection vanished.

  Chapter 23

  James

  The ride up the Royal Mile was one of the most terrifying experiences of James's life.

  After helping move everyone out of Tina's island, referred to by everyone who lived there as Camp Comeback, he, Ar'Bati, and Flameboyant had loaded up one of Malakai's siege wagons with everyone too injured to walk--plus a few other items--and started toward the castle. Since they were bringing up the rear, James missed the majority of the fighting for the Mile, but the aftermath told him it had been brutal. Their rolling infirmary picked up several more injured players as they creaked their way north through the corridor lined with players using stolen knight shields to fend off the hordes of mindless undead.

  When they reached the palace, they passed Tina's raid, which was busy massacring what appeared to be every single dungeon boss in the game. From the mess on the ground, he knew they'd been at it for a while, but while there were still a lot more to kill, they'd already cleared the way enough for the king's forces to secure the castle gate, which was what mattered.

  "Where is King Gregory?" James asked when they reached the heavily guarded doors.

  "Activating the Bastion," the guards told him as they started helping wounded players off his wagon. "It's not up yet because everyone's not inside, but it will be, Sun save us all."

  "Sun save us all," Ar'Bati echoed as he handed down the injured. "Has the Diplomatic Quarter been evacuated already?"

  "Almost," the guard said. "They were still moving the infirmary patients, last I heard, but Captain Hightower just went by to check on the progress himself--and to make sure all the players were let out of their cages--so it should be nearly done."

  That was a great relief to hear. "Our cart should be the last from the south," James told him. "Once we get the fighters inside, we can close the gates."

  "Thank the Sun for that," the guard said as they pulled the last of the injured down and passed them to the Clerics--player and NPC--who were managing the massive infirmary that had popped up in the center of the castle courtyard. "The undead are getting thicker by the minute. If we don't close up soon, I'm worried even the Bastion won't be..." He stopped, thick eyebrows furrowing under the brim of his leather helmet. "Oy, what's this?"

  The guard yanked the tarp off the cart bed the injured had been riding in to reveal twelve barrels marked with stark black-and-white striping. "This is wind-fire powder!"

  "It's for use against the undead," James explained quickly. "We found it at the player camp, and--"

  "You can't bring that in here!" the guard cried, making a ward against evil as he stepped back. "It's bloody dangerous! You've got enough there to blow the whole castle sky high three times over. And that barrel's cracked!"

  "It's got a ward on it," Flameboyant explained, pointing at the magical markings.

  "Don't matter," the guard snapped, grabbing their horses by the reins. "Even if we weren't under siege, I can't be letting such a dangerous thing into the castle. Now get off, and I'll wheel this thing right back out--"

  "You can't put it out there with the undead!" Ar'Bati snarled.

  "Well, it can't be in here!" the guard snarled back.

  James winced and held up his hands. Before he could think of something to say to de-escalate the situation, though, a large voice boomed behind them.

  "It's fine, Sergeant. Let them in."

  The guard stopped yelling and whirled around, then his eyes widened. "Captain Hightower, sir!" he said, slapping his hand to his forehead in salute as the captain of the city guard marched over.

  "Begging your pardon, sir," the guard said nervously. "I don't mean no disobedience, but this player has wind-fire powder. Regulations strictly forbid--"

  "I'm giving special permission," the captain said, nodding at James. "This player has the king's trust. Whatever he's got, I trust him to handle it with care. Let them in, and get this cart out of the gate. We've got soldiers coming in!"

/>   "Yes, sir," the guard said, giving James a final dirty look before letting go of the reins.

  After nodding respectfully to the guard, James flicked the reins and drove them in. When they were safely out of the way, he hopped down and bowed to Captain Hightower. "Thank you so much for your assistance back there."

  "They're just trying to do their jobs," the captain said dismissively, then his dark eyebrows drew into a scowl. "But what are you about, bringing wind-fire powder in here?"

  "I know it's dangerous," James said. "But our backs are to the wall here. I couldn't leave such a powerful weapon behind."

  The captain snorted. "Desperate times, desperate measures, I suppose. Just make sure you keep a lid on it. It'd be just our luck if we escaped the undead only to blow ourselves up."

  James was about to assure the captain he would never allow such a thing when a huge cry went up outside. A few seconds later, players started flooding in through the door. The Roughnecks came in last, with Tina herself bringing up the rear, using her shield to block the door against something horrible. He couldn't see what from this angle, but it bashed against the gate. Tina was screaming for people to help her shut the door as everyone piled on. James helped, too, as did Ar'Bati. Since he was a ranged damage-dealer, Flameboyant ran up on the walls with the other Sorcerers to help attack.

  From way in the back, James couldn't see what was going on, but they seemed to have fought whatever was outside to a standstill when a flash of gold went off in the sky, then the Bastion exploded overhead, covering the castle in a golden shield that drove back the undead.

  "Thanks be to the Holy King," Ar'Bati said, panting as he craned his neck back to look up at the golden light shining from the highest tower. "He did it!"

  "He did it," James agreed though far less enthusiastically. Everyone in the courtyard was cheering and celebrating, but James couldn't miss how much smaller the Bastion was this time. The golden dome that had once covered the entire city now barely reached past the castle wall. He hoped the smaller radius was a power-saving strategy that would allow the shield to stand indefinitely, but he feared what they were seeing was all the power the Bastion had left. He didn't want to voice his fears out loud, though, so he looked around for the king instead.

  Fortunately, the eight-foot-tall Gregory was easy to find. With just a little looking, James spotted him up on the battlements. After making Ar'Bati swear to guard the wind-fire powder with his life, James scrambled up the stairs to the king and quickly discovered he wasn't the only one.

  "Hey, T," he said, grinning up at the stonekin standing in front of him. "Glad you made it."

  "You too, James," Tina said, though she didn't return his smile.

  James could see why. His sister looked like she'd been through hell. Her towering body and armor were covered in blood of every sort, including a worrisome amount of her stonekin's silver. She also looked exhausted, making him wonder when was the last time she'd slept.

  The king wasn't much better. Gregory looked like he'd aged a decade since he'd come to get James this morning. He stood at the edge of the covered battlement above the castle's front gates, staring out at the sea of undead that now filled the Royal Mile. And it was a sea. There were so many zombies and skeletons and undead gnolls and reanimated animals out there, James couldn't even see the pavement. Up in the sky, the undead Birds were still fighting Xthr, and though the oldest living Bird seemed to be gaining the upper claw, the southern half of the city was on fire yet again beneath them. From up here, Bastion didn't even look like a city anymore. It looked like a wasteland, and no one seemed to feel it more than Gregory himself.

  "We are finished," he whispered.

  "We're not finished," Tina said irritably.

  "We are cornered in a castle with no way out," the king said bitterly, glaring at her. "Even in this diminished capacity, the Bastion won't last much longer. When it goes down, the undead will storm the gates again. And the walls. And the sewers and the waterways and the old mines. I chose the castle to make our stand because it was the only safe place, but I didn't know how great the enemy's force would be. Didn't think." He dragged his giant hands through his wild red hair. "I fear I've ordered my people to their grave."

  "It's only a grave if we let it be," Tina said, crossing her arms over her chest. "This castle was built to take a siege. There are only a few real doors in. With a bit of rest, my Roughnecks can hold those no problem. I don't know what your food and water supply is here, but if your men and the other players can take care of the walls, we should be able to hold out long enough to come up with another plan."

  "What other plan?" Gregory demanded. "There's no rescue coming! This is the Last Bastion! If we fall, no one is coming to help us." He put his head in his hands. "I have failed."

  "It's not failure to lose a fight you never could have won in the first place," James said firmly, reaching up to place his hand on the king's giant shoulder. "That doesn't mean we're dead, though. We just have to come up with a new plan, and I think I've got one."

  The king and Tina both turned to look at him. Neither of them looked surprised, but James was shocked when no one tried to cut him off. They just motioned for him to continue, so with a deep breath, James went all in. "We can use wind-fire powder."

  "Oh my god," Tina groaned.

  "Just hear me out," James pleaded. "I know it sounds crazy, but--"

  "I don't think it's crazy at all," his sister said quickly, looking like she didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. "I'm just dying from the irony because wind-fire powder was my plan."

  "I know," James said, giving her a smile. "I saw the fire ward you put on Trainers' Hall. I want to know who came up with that, and can they do it again?"

  "It's Richard's work, so you'd have to ask him," Tina said. "But I don't see why not."

  "My Sorcerers can ward against fire as well," Gregory offered. "But why? What do you mean to do?"

  James took a deep breath. "I mean to burn it all." He pointed down at the courtyard, where Ar'Bati was keeping everyone away from the wagon with bared fangs and claws. "We have twelve barrels of wind-fire powder down there. That's enough to scorch this whole city if the wind is blowing in the right direction. If we put a fire ward on the castle walls, we can burn the undead to ash without burning ourselves. Wind-fire will burn anything, even raid bosses. If we can get a big-enough inferno going, we can destroy the Once King's entire army without even having to open the doors."

  The king stepped back, eyes wide with horror. "Are you seriously suggesting we burn all of Bastion?"

  "No," James said. "Because all of Bastion is here." He waved his hand at the people huddling in the courtyard. "The citizens, the soldiers, the players, you and me--we are Bastion. All that stuff out there is just empty, ruined houses that are now crawling with undead. Cities can be rebuilt, but your people can't." He looked at Tina. "Even if the Roughnecks could hold the doors when the Bastion goes down, it would take you weeks to kill that many zombies, and that's assuming the Once King doesn't just bring in more. Even if you pulled it off perfectly, there's not enough food and water in here to keep us alive that long. We cannot withstand this siege! Our only hope is to kill the enemy before they kill us, and wind-fire powder is the surest way."

  "You won't get an argument from me," Tina said bitterly. "I've been ready to burn this place since I got here."

  James winced at the truth of those words, but he kept his eyes on the king. As happy as he was to have his sister's backing, Gregory was the one he needed to convince. He was the only one who could give the word, and from the look on his face, he'd rather eat his sword.

  "My legacy is already bad enough," he said desperately, putting his head in his hands. "I can't go down in history as the king who burned his own capital."

  "What history will there be if we die here?" James pointed out. "If Bastion falls, that's it. The Once King's army will sweep over this continent. The Savanna can't stand against an army like this! It's Bastion's dut
y to protect all the other lands that have sworn fealty to you. If Bastion won't fight to the last breath to save those who depend on it, what good is it?"

  That at last seemed to get through. "What good, indeed," Gregory said wearily, dropping his hands to look out again over the undead swarming across what had once been his beautiful capital city. "Are you sure they'll all burn?"

  "No, but I've yet to find the thing wind-fire powder won't burn," James said. "It's worth a try, at least. What have we got to lose?"

  "Nothing," the king admitted with a sad sigh. "I'll get my sorcerers on it."

  "And I'll get mine," Tina said, then her face broke into a wicked grin. "Oh man, I'm so gonna love watching this. Dibs on getting to throw one of those barrels!"

  James was glad someone was happy about this. Even though it was his idea, he still felt sick to his stomach as he went to tell Ar'Bati the plan was on. While they carefully moved the barrels up to the battlements, Tina and the king gathered all their Sorcerers and other knowledgeable magical types in front of the castle's main tower. James would have given his tail to hear what the Arch-Sorcerer, High Priest Raffestain, and Richard--the Richard--were talking about, but he didn't dare leave the wind-fire powder to anyone else. In the end, the group split, and all the Sorcerers went up on the walls to start grabbing magic out of the air.

  When all the deadly barrels were in position, James went down to round up people strong enough to throw them far enough to actually do some good. That meant raid-geared strength players, so his first stop was the Roughneck camp. When he got down to the front gate, he found his sister's guild sitting on the ground in a circle, stuffing their faces with rations like they would never eat again. The only one who wasn't eating was SilentBlayde. He was sitting apart from the others, hugging his knees on top of a crate and staring off into space with a blank, shell-shocked expression. Every now and then, NekoBaby or the other tank--Frank, James thought his name was--would come over and try to get him to eat, but he just shook his head and turned away.