Chapter 63 - Mommy’s Very Angry

I heard the arrows whistling past my head and raised my shield to stop them. One thudded into the aluminum, glancing off. Another smacked into a zombie goblin standing just in front of me. The zombie staggered but didn’t go down. Then another arrow arced in under the shield and sliced into my calf. It stuck there, not moving, and I cried out in pain.

Sue echoed my shout a moment later with a roar. Their mouth opened and the sound that came out was near deafening, even though the dino was facing away from me. I remembered what it was like being in front of that roar. I’d just been on the receiving end of that roar not long ago. Before the echoes were even gone, Sue set out up the hill at a trot that left the other undead behind.

Okay, Sue was more than a little pissed, and they were running to go hurt the people who’d hurt me. I had to admit, the tyrannosaur’s version of ‘guard mode’ was heartwarming to see. Probably not for the goblins, but it was for me.

I staggered and fell, unable to keep my balance with my wounded leg. That sucked, because the arrow hit the ground funny and felt like it was trying to tear itself out of my calf sideways. Not fun. Super unpleasant, in fact. I screamed again, and I think I damn near passed out.

Then warm hands were on my leg, a golden glow spreading over the wound. It was Henry! “Hang in there. Getting the arrow out is going to hurt, but I’ve had a little practice at this now, unfortunately.”

He sawed the tip of the arrow off and then yanked the shaft free from my leg. I’m pretty sure I gave another big shout at that, but almost as soon as it was gone, the pain faded. More golden glow suffused my leg, shone brightly for a moment, and then faded.

“There,” Henry said with a grunt. “It’s closed, and I’ve cut off pain reception for a little while, but the wound is still there. If you’re too rough with it, it’s just going to open back up again.”

“I’ll be careful. Thanks.”

“No problem,” Henry replied, his face grim. “Just get us out of this, okay?”

“Working on it!”

I glanced up at my undead. Sue was almost out of sight, tearing into a pack of goblins in the trees ahead. My other undead were about halfway between us, so I had some catching up to do. I got myself back to my feet. The leg was still tender, but I could walk on it, at least. I didn’t think running was a good idea, at least not until I could heal myself with a Drain Life spell.

As I checked the battlefield I noticed there was something new about a couple of my undead, and I realized right away this was new information my Heal Undead spell was giving me. I could tell when they were injured, could even feel how bad their injuries were. The goblin zombie who’d taken an arrow was lightly injured. Sue had taken a few hits, but was even less damaged.

I cast Heal Undead on the zombie, and its health immediately topped off. I felt the drain from the spellcasting, but my Will was high enough it didn’t sap me too badly. My next spell was a Drain Life, targeting the first goblin I spotted out in the open. The daylight was growing stronger by the minute, making my targets much more visible. The Drain killed the goblin outright, and flooded me with healing, knitting the tissue in my injured leg back together. In seconds, I was as good as new.

My skeletons and zombies were almost to the goblin line, but they’d bogged down Sue, when where I really needed the dino was at the goblin base. I could barely see the palisade walls through the trees, but just the glimpse was enough to order them into a full-on assault.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

This was the part I hadn’t wanted to be riding them for.

As I raced up the hill to rejoin my troops, and my skeleton warriors crashed into the goblin defenders, their line already in tatters from Sue tearing through them, the T. rex shot forward at a speed that was more than a little surprising. I mean, I’d had a sense Sue was fast from riding them earlier. They just gave off this vibe of massive power. But actually watching the tyrannosaur accelerate to a car-like speed was impressive and a little scary. I was very glad they were on my side!

I heard them slam into the palisade more than I saw it. The boom echoed back down the hill, and the cracking of lumber splitting apart came next. The wall came apart, logs tumbling in every direction as the ropes holding them together came apart under the strain and the titan’s mass blew them right out of where they’d been set in the ground. I managed to hit them with a quick Heal Undead, which repaired some of the damage they took from the impact.

Then Sue was inside the walls, and the goblin screams really started up.

My undead had reached the ranks of the ones still outside, but they had no fight left in them. They just broke and started running in all directions. Hope took one down, racing after the goblin and snagging a leg in her teeth. My zombie goblins took down most of the rest with their bows. It was a slaughter.

I tapped a few goblin bodies as I continued climbing the hill. This wasn’t where the main fight was going to be. I had to get up there to that fort so I could help Sue. A flash of bright orange light came from inside those walls, and the tyrannosaur roared again in fury—and pain. That had to be the goblin with fire magic, casting his spells. Sue needed me.

“Selena!” It was Alfred, running up alongside me. “There’s another group of them south of us. They’re closing in fast.”

I looked back, but didn’t see them. “Where?”

“A few hundred meters off. Kara spotted them. She’s holding them off with her bow, but there’s way too many,” Alfred replied.

That had to be the force they had down in the hotel, across from the rat-people. We’d torn them up quite a lot earlier, but there still had to be dozens of goblins down there, and now that we’d attacked home base, they were all headed for their fort to stop us.

“Pull her back, Alfred. Everyone with me. We need to take the fort, now! If we win here, it doesn’t matter how many goblins they bring in from elsewhere. It’ll be too late.”

He snapped me a nod. “I’m on it. We’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

Then he turned and darted back down the hill, urging Henry and Samson to stay tight with me. That was all of the people from his group who’d joined us for this strike: three fighters and his healer. I was very glad to have Henry with us, though. His healing had already helped me once, and I felt sure we’d use him again before all this was through.

I ordered my undead into an arrowhead formation in front of me. They folded around me as we raced forward. A few of the goblins tried to stand against us, but they were washed away in a combination of arrows, spears, and Drain spells. One goblin on the wall top tried peppering us with arrows, but my shield deflected the first one, and my Drain Life spell didn’t give him a second chance.

Then we were at the walls, punching through the gap Sue made into the interior. My warriors spread out slightly as they moved through the gap, meeting light resistance from some goblins who’d been trying to flee the battle raging inside.

The interior space was bigger than I’d thought, maybe the size of a football field. The walls were roughly oval, and the space within was filled with a combination of tents and wood buildings. It looked almost rustic, like a little medieval village from an HBO film.

The big open space in the middle was hotly contested, though, and I use those words intentionally. Sue stood there in the middle of the space, their bones blackened in two spots from fireball impacts. The dino was still fighting, though, still trying to chase down the dozens of little attackers swarming all around like ants. The goblin mage cast another fireball, which took Sue in the chin, knocking them sideways into one of the houses.

Sue staggered, but kept their feet.

I had the gap plugged with my force, but Sue was struggling to pick out targets with so many goblins underfoot. The mage was hiding among the others, which made it impossible to single him out.

Not so for me, though. I dropped a Drain on his ass.

The goblin mage staggered. This time, it was him barely keeping his feet! He’d seen where my black flames shot from, though, and returned fire—literally! Before I could react, a fireball streaked across the courtyard toward me, burning its way through the air.