I Am Gamer III

by Gabriel Rathweg

  Either Chieftess Shining Eagle, Dancing Lion, both or none had made it. We’d find out soon enough.

  “Come, this is the last push, ready your bows and check your weapons. We are almost there. Let us finish this!” I called, the Cheyenne warriors straightening a bit and reading themselves.

  I slowed our pace so the warriors wouldn’t be winded when we arrived, the sounds of cannon and musket fire growing louder. I started to hear the grunts, roars, and screams of monsters and humans. We were getting close. At the half mile mark, we reached the entrance to the canyon and I smiled. My plan had worked. The entire of the monster army that had been chasing Chieftess Shining eagle was there, halfway to the hastily built fort. Which was firing away with falconets into the mass of monsters, that I now noticed was at least twice as large as the one I had left the Chieftess with.

  “Sister!” Ice Blossom’s voice rang out.

  I turned at the sound and my smile grew even wider. Galloping our way were my sisters and behind them was a mass of warriors, I could tell they were Blackfoot by their garb, they pulled up next to me and I greeted then embraced them.

  “It is good to see you sister. Dancing Lion, Stone Fox, and the rest of the Riders should be in there.” Night Blossom said.

  “The plan worked perfectly!” Ice Blossom cheered.

  “So far. Let’s finish this. Everything went well at the Blackfoot home, are the Blackfoot armed?” I asked.

  “Everything went swimmingly, I’ll fill you in after the battle is won. Yes, they all have Fiery Bows and Fire Steel Arrows.” Night Star said.

  “Good! Let’s end this. Form them up in a line and let’s destroy these vermin.” I commanded.

  I introduced my sisters to Bull Bear and they introduced the Chieftess of the Blackfoot, Chieftess Falling Willow, she looked very formidable and reminded a lot of Shining Eagle, but taller and lighter, and a little more severe looking. We greeted each other and promised to do a more personal meeting later. I gave them orders and told them to basically line up and fire arrows until they were empty into the monster’s rear. They acknowledged and headed to their warriors. My sisters and I headed to the front and readied ourselves.

  “Attack!” I yelled, then spurred Winston into action, spear leading the way.

  Hundreds of burning arrows arced out into the night, joining the booming cannon and muskets, their light joining the others in small canyon. Our attack hit the enemy army just as they reached the forts walls. Our additional arrows cut into them like a burning scythe, dropping the weaker Nirumbee with one shot and the Wendigo went down after being peppered with dozens of arrows. The two remaining Skinwalkers from the Cheyenne were there, now joined by a third, and they were directing the monster army. They saw us arrive and split their forces.

  Falconets and harquebuses continued firing along with hundreds of arrows decimating the now confused army which was trying to extricate itself from the wall that they were dying by the score on. Now, they were getting hit on both sides and in the center. We had them it was time to put the nail in the coffin as Law would say.

  “Sisters with me!” I cried, shouldering my bow and couching my spear, my sisters following right behind.

  The three of us left the line of archers and charged into the incoming enemy. They were already down to less than a third of their number. The cannon, musket, and bow fire depleting their ranks. I saw the gate of the fort open and the other Riders charged out, Fuzzy at their head and Shining Eagle brandishing her burning spear in her arms.

  We rode down, stabbed, and sliced into every monster in our path. Creating a swathe of death as we headed to our targets, the Skinwalkers. I stabbed until the spear broke as we moved forward, then switched to my saber. I chopped till my arms were tired my sisters at my side. Then suddenly, I wasn’t chopping, the monsters had cleared out of the way and standing ahead of us were the three Skinwalker leaders.

  “Die humans!” The closest one roared, lunging at me and Winston with his long, wicked claws and snarling, the spittle flying from his face.

  “You die vile spawn!” I shrieked, swinging my burning blade down and taking his arm off at the elbow as I rode by.

  Ice Blossom came right behind me on that side and her blade came close behind taking the monsters head from his shoulders.

  The two other Skinwalkers shrieked and brandished their bloodied claws at us.

  “We will take you with us humans!” The bigger one roared.

  “I will feast on your bones!” The smaller one shrieked.

  Then a deafening bestial roar sounded and from behind the larger Skinwalker, Fuzzy appeared and he bit the monsters head off in one motion. Nothing happened for a second then blood shot up like a fountain grabbing the other Skinwalkers attention. As it stared Shining Eagle stabbed down from Fuzzy’s back piercing its breast with a burning spear just as Dancing Lion came and stabbed from the other side. Each Jicarilla warrior killing the monster instantly with their strikes.

  The monster screamed in death once and the sound rattled across the battlefield louder than should have been possible. With that shriek all sense of cohesion that the monsters had was gone. Some continued attacking us, some each other, some ran away.

  “None escapes! Kill them all!” I ordered into the night, that was slowly starting to brighten with the coming of the new days sun.

  The falconets and harquebuses still fired into all enemy in range. I ordered up our now reassembled Riders and began systematically hunting down all the remaining monsters, while staying away from the firing guns and bows. The next few hours were so much cleanup, albeit dangerous cleanup. The sun was high in the sky and it was approaching noon by the time we killed the final Nirumbee and made sure that all the Wendigo were dead and burning. We had done it though, we had won. I know we had losses because I saw warriors die but I know they were light. Our weapons and tactics had won the day. Thank you, Sun Tzu you were right, preparation is key.

  The next step was the grisly and disgusting part. Everyone, Rider, warrior, and builder went out and collected the bodies and created piles of the dead. We retrieved our few dead, only a dozen of our fighters had died, triple that number were wounded but they would live and heal. The monster heaps were set ablaze and then we all returned to the fort when the task was finished.

  My periphery was blinking as I rode into the new bastion with the rest of the Riders, followed by our new warrior additions from our two new tribes. I greeted the Crow warriors and Jicarilla Builders and praised them for their hard work and amazing jobs during the battle. Once everyone was inside the fort, I pulled Winston up and looked around at the gathered Riders and warriors. There were now over two hundred people in this fort if you counted the builders. I smiled and cleared my throat, as all eyes turned to me.

  “We have won a great battle today!” I called out.

  The whole fort cheered and whooped in celebration. Nothing like surviving death makes one feel so alive. When the cheering died down, I was about to continue when the sun went dark behind me casting the bright morning in shadow and I glanced at it with a raised eyebrow. Clouds had appeared, not storm clouds but huge puffy white ones that you’d usually see on a perfect summer’s day. The sun behind them making them glow like they were lined with fire and contained the power of the sun in their fluffy innards. Then from inside them a human figure appeared.

  I watched in fascination as the being resolved itself and I recognized the goddess Hasteoltoi. Not only her, but the goddess Brigitte appeared behind her with that sardonic grin on her face and the goddess Shakaru with her stoic gaze as well. My cheeks turned hot as I remembered the dream from so long ago. I looked around and saw my sisters and Dancing Lion smiling at me lasciviously. I cleared my throat and returned my gaze to the goddesses floating to the earth.

  TRACK 26 – LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER – BON JOVI

  “Close the gates you slack wit fucktards!” Patty roared.

  I winced and rubbed my deafened right ear.

  “Was
that really necessary?” I asked, glaring at my companion.

  “Aye tis, the lads and lasses need a bit of jitter remover if you know what I mean. Not the wet and sloppy one though, although later it may be.” He laughed.

  I laughed despite myself and listened to those around me do the same. Laughter was contagious and it traveled outward like a ripple in a pond. I stood at the top of the uncompleted citadel with a commanding view of the area and more specifically, the incoming army. It was humongous, the first thing that came to mind was StarCraft. I hoped to all the gods we didn’t get Zerg rushed.

  “Fire!” Billy called.

  The order was echoed up and down the line from the Mississippi River fort down to each of the other forts and along the walls. With the addition of the Asgardians we now had the manpower to man the entirety of Thrudheim’s defenses. The cannon and mortars had interlocking fields of fire, all being able to hit any others side. The range on our artillery was over fucking powered and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

  The only sounds that could be heard were the booming and thumping of our artillery fire. The warriors operating the weapons were yelling out orders and other expletive things to each other, but anything said beyond a few feet away was nothing but the sounds of exploding artillery rounds. I stared out at the sea of the enemy and watched them with my enhanced vision. The rounds exploded into the mass of them, killing dozens instantly and then bouncing and killing more. The mortar rounds exploded and created huge chunks of dead monsters, but the ones behind them just rolled through. Even the water monsters were the same, swimming through their brethren’s remains. The tide continued ever onward and towards us almost as if it was unending. I shook away the morbid thoughts and focused on the positive, hundreds of them were dying by the minute.

  Freak was next to me and I patted his head absentmindedly. Him and Silent mouse had returned from the southwest. They had been searching for signs of the Fallen Tribe, but they had disappeared for now apparently. I wasn’t overly worried, I was sure they would show themselves again, more importantly I was glad Freak and Silent Mouse were back for the battle. We would need every single fighter, human and cat.

  The clouds of Owl Women came on ahead of the land and water monsters. The cannon and mortar would hit one every now and then and it would die, but they were spared artillery fire for the most part and advanced unmolested. That was until they closed the quarter mile left of range needed for our Long Rifles to be effective.

  “Fucking Owlies… Ready, Aim, Fire!” Billy commanded.

  Hundreds of the weapons fired off in varied blasts that sounded like machine gun fire. Scores of Owl Women screeched and felt to the earth, but the cloud continued and on they came.

  “Fire at will!” Billy commanded again.

  The targets were so numerous you couldn’t miss, and we didn’t. Over a third of their number were down before they halfway to the first fort. By then, Long Rifle fire from the other two forts and our own from the citadel roof was added. Our massed fire was so strong and withering that the monsters retreated with half their number dead. We had lost some warriors and some artillery crews were down, but Patty, Arun, or some other Elite appeared and got things in order where needed, and soon the gun was firing again.

  The army had crossed the first third of the distance to the fort since we started firing. I wasn’t sure how much of their army we killed but it seemed not enough. When they had reached the halfway point, I still saw no end to their numbers. The giant Kuku and Chenoo were so close that they were hurling giant rocks at our walls. I had designed them after the most effective fort styles and the majority of the giant balls of death bounced harmlessly off of them. Some though were thrown just right, and a trio or quad of warriors died when they hit. Other times a gun emplacement was taken out.

  When they were only a third of the distance away, I thought I saw an end to their numbers but couldn’t be sure. It was far in the distance and then my attention was taken by the returning Owl Women. They came screeching their cries of death and promises of eating us alive while we shot them from the sky. They came in like kamikaze divers and took out warriors here and there, but mostly we killed them and by the time they left less than a fifth of their original number remained.

  They had done their job though, because as I looked out, I saw the first of the Nirumbee had reached the Illinois River Fort. That was the bad news, the good news was that I saw an actual end to the army of monsters. We just needed to kill about ten thousand or so of mixed legendary beasts of fear, murder, death, and destruction, no biggie. I looked over at another cannon firing and watched the cannonball fly out and take down another Chenoo and continued ripping into monsters behind it. Yeah, no biggie we got this.

  The army of monsters took horrific losses as they closed the last quarter of ground and made it to the walls of Thrudheim. They hit the Illinois River Fort first still dying by the droves, but they kept on, Nirumbee scrambled over their dead only to die atop them making way for the next monster. Giant Chenoo and Kuku just stomped on the dead or dying bodies, squishing them flat as they reached the walls, blood splattering outward like paint.

  There is an old joke about a family of tomatoes walking down the street. A momma tomato, a daddy tomato, and a baby tomato. The baby tomato starts lagging behind and the daddy tomato goes back and stomps on the ground saying, ketchup! Yeah, total dad joke, but it makes me laugh every time. Either way that’s what the squashed bodies of dead monsters reminded me of, I shook my head and cleared it, focusing back on the battle.

  The monsters were about halfway up the wall and the giants pounded on the earth works, but hey held. The magically enforced dirt, rock, and stone walls were built using the most advanced technology I could think of, they should be able to withstand cannon blasts. Which was good because those Chenoo and Kuku hit like them. The defenders of the Illinois fort switched to firing down into the morass of monsters while the rest of Thrudheim kept focusing on the rest of the army.

  Things were going well then as happens a thought occurred to me as I watched the bodies pile up against the walls, now halfway up and still rising. The monsters were building a ladder of bodies. Images of the book turned movie, World War Z, came to my mind. I remembered the crazed zombies rushing the supposedly impenetrable walls of Israel and just climbing over their own dead to get over it.

  That’s what these monsters were doing. I had separated the Elites and Arun had requested to hold the Illinois Fort with his family. They were doing an amazing job, but they were going to be overwhelmed. I turned to Patty and he was looking at the fort with a frown on his face.

  “They’re not going to hold.” I said.

  “Aye, I’ll take care of it.” He replied.

  He nodded once and took off at a run grabbing a cadre of warriors as he went and headed down the bridge to the Illinois Fort. I watched them as they reached the fighting and Patty conferred with Arun and his family. There was some brief arguing then some nodding and they seemed to agree. Orders were called out and the firing redoubled. Cannons were spiked and mortars were taken apart and the retreat began just in time. The monsters had just reached the top of the fifty-foot wall, that’s how many of their dead had been piled up all around the Illinois River Fort.

  The monsters frenzy renewed as they topped the bastion and attacked with even fiercer intensity. I’ll give my fighters credit they held their own and retreated in order. The fired in bursts, slowly walking back along the bridge to the citadel. They downed more and more monsters as they retreated, Patty, Arun, the Chief and Chieftess, along with Freya were spread out across the bridge in the rear, handling the melee. Any MOB, whether it be Nirumbee, Aglebemu, even Wendigo, was felled by one of the elite fighters.

  They were halfway across the bridge when my eyes grew wide as the three Kuku from my dreams climbed atop the Illinois Fort. Not only them, but the rest of the monster army that wasn’t rushing up the dead monster ramp was flowing towards the other two river forts. Our guns a
nd artillery were still killing them by the score but not nearly enough. Arun and company were almost to the citadel roof, but the monsters were not giving them any room. I signaled down by waving a flag down to the Firefly, Cunning Wolf acknowledged the signal with his own flag and then five cannons boomed seconds later.

  The warships cannons were aimed at the bridge connecting the Illinois River Fort and the citadel. The projectiles hit fort side of the bridge and it came down dropping the incoming enemy into the water below. Without reinforcements Patty, Arun, and them were able to finish off the MOBs on what was left of the bridge. When the last was dispatched the elites returned to me and the other warriors continued firing into the enemy army.

  Roars split the sky as the three massive Kuku screamed their defiance at the bridge being destroyed. The enemy reacted by redoubling their efforts all around Thrudheim, now that they surrounded both other River Forts. The Nirumbee and Aglebemu died by the hundreds but their deaths did their jobs and the ramps of the dead were started again. It was time to get all the defenders back to the citadel. There was only one option left. I turned to Shadow Bear who was standing by just in case something like this happened.

  “Start Plan Alpha and Omega, get everyone moving now, I’ll contact the Firefly.” I instructed.

  Shadow Bear’s eyebrows rose till they practically leapt off his head, but he quickly mastered himself. He swallowed then threw a hasty salute as he took off, shouting orders as he went.