Sonya was getting all of her goats in a row. At the same time that she activated her animal handling skill, everything fell into place.
No woman is born knowing how to control a leader of dark goats.
No woman is born knowing how to control a leader of dark goats but some are allowed to rise to the occasion. It wasn't this day, Sophie decided that she was going to make the most of her new on the job training.
If the goat Lord decided that this is something that she was going to get, she would take full advantage of the opportunities put in front of her. Sophie formed the goat legion into an archer line.
They focused their fire on Vanessa.
Sophie was learning that Vanessa was far more interested in whatever was left of that undead dragon than anything else that she could provide.
It was like Vanessa was a mean girl and she wasn't even one of the popular kids. Vanessa probably saw her as one of the theater kids. This was fine because Sophie was a theater kid in high school. She later turned into a stage adult. She loved doing theater. But this made her unpopular outside of her crew. She didn't want to be popular, she just wanted to live.
All she had to do was destroy the sea monster or render it ineffective. So when Vanessa slammed the body of the undead dragon back and forth, she really sat down and enjoyed the entertainment that was provided for her. It wasn't everyday that you got to see someone hulk out on a dragon.
When they saw the dragon back at Hierisburg, Sophia thought that she wasn't going to see any monsters of that sizer caliber. She was very sad to be proven wrong. But she was very happy that the goats that she had been provided with were all larger than average.
They were all a little bit more stout. She really appreciated a stout goat. Much like a style of beard, they were thick and they had great taste. However, in this case, what she meant by the goats liked to toss things at her enemies. Things like enhanced magical stones.
She didn't understand the goat Lord 's lens on things. Most of their communication was strained at best. But she could understand when she was given an opportunity. This line of goats all decided that they were going to listen to her commands and she wasn't going to say no to that.
Wave after wave of rocks flew from the ground into the quiet sea. Sophie was directing the goats to stay well out of the range of the dragon on a rope. She was going to have to ask Bob how he got rid of the one wing until she saw the tiny cat on its back.
Despite the larger dragon getting crushed over and over again slapped against the water and on the land, the cat seemed just fine. Causality hated cats and this one in particular. The space-time continuum warped around the cat as the goats pelted both the dragon and Vanessa with their ongoing onslaught.
Sophie realized that she was standing alone, next to a city full of zombies and this was a situation that they had expressly told her to not do. She had let her horse go because several of the goats were large enough for her to ride.
She was going to have to make a decision before Vanessa had decided on something else for her. She hadn't known many sea monsters, but this one seemed a little bit volatile.
The slamming of the dragon's body into the water rang in her ears as she selected one of the goats to be her mount. She chose a nice thick boy who would be able to take a beating.
Behind her, Brianna rolled up on her horse.
"Are you okay over there?" She yelled over the cacophony of noise.
"I'm having a goat of a day," Sophie bleated. "How is everyone else faring?"
"Well we couldn't talk Stella out of heading into town, so we split up. She's with Iggy right now. Iggy let his horse run off and that was when we realized that you weren't on your horse anymore."
"Are those guys just charging into town like two dumb asses? Because this is such a stellar move just charging into danger. Trying to save Bob because Bob didn't listen to her and Bob is such a princess and she's trying to save her princess."
"That does sound like their dynamic," Brianna said.
"And plus you have to think about our own problems, look at all that black flame. There's no way that we're going to get into the city this way. And even if we did, there's so many fucking undead inside of it that why are we even? Oh of course! Yes, see that Brianna, the undead, had decided they wanted to come out and play. Finally."
Several dozen undead streamed towards them, half of them lit up in black flame, the other half smoking. Several were human sized, a rarity that drew her attention for a moment.
"It's time for me to pull my goats back and find a way to get this flame to die down", Sophie said. "If you have any bright ideas, come on, send them to me and I will do my best. Are you ready? Warrior?"
"No gods, no Masters," Brianna said
"No gods, no Masters," Sophie replied.
Sophie ordered her goats to begin doing a tactical retreat, noping the fuck out of there. They might be able to fight a sea monster or dragon or horde of zombies but all three at the same time were not going to work. At some point in time that dragon was going to get free and wings were not, it looked very sturdy.
Sophie was surprised at the brisk pace that her new mount took.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
In fact, all of the goats were faster than the zombies. If Vanessa had been paying more attention, she would have been able to get more of her ice attacks out on them but as they started moving away from the water, all the goats flocked together. Sophie ground her teeth pushing them to spread out. A crater that hadn't been there five minutes before caught two of her goats as they swung around to return eastward. There was nothing for her to do. If she stopped, she was probably going to die.
Her only solace was that Sonya had made very good plans on how to save all of them. She just needs to get into range so their death traps could do their jobs.
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Iggy was right behind her. He was keeping her safe from zombie attacks. She really didn't want to have him come with her but he had insisted and she would be damned if she didn't accept any help. Unlike Bob who never accepted any help ever. Sure, once or twice he had let her help with the cooking but ever since it was her job, she had itched at being asked to help.
It wasn't that she didn't want the help. It was that when he clearly needed help, because he was often out of his depth, he never took it. Stella had the strong conviction that she could change this about him. Because she loved just about everything else about him. He was great as a lover but he just was too impulsive sometimes. It was like he was getting a second chance to be a kid and he was taking every single second of it. He felt like a kid too sometimes and she had to have him slow down. Right now? She was wondering if maybe he needed more therapy then he was letting on.
Iggy had taken one of the caster classes but she wasn't really sure. Whatever it was, it was helping him stealth through the town right behind her. She led, and he followed, the way that it was supposed to be. Men follow women, and accept help when asked. That's exactly how it's supposed to go. Iggy was doing great. She was going to have to ask him about his status later.
There are only so many women in the camp and though there was roughly the same amount, there weren't any couples besides the two that she was aware of. Of. Everyone else was a bit too traumatized to think about these things. For her? The trauma was part of the reason that she bonded so fast. Bob hadn't been in the cage with them. He had freed them from the cage.
For a few days, he had been everything to her. Now? As she unsheathed both of her blades to cut yet another throat of a zombie, he was getting on her nerves.
"Two on your left," Iggy said.
"Got them," She replied quickly, dispatching one with a Savage blow and then the other with a thrust through his heart.
She wondered how Bob would feel if his heart was broken in the same way. Probably not great. Was it helpful for her to think about Bob and this kind of way? Probably not. Especially not for the long-term. But was it good for her and her short-term goals? Absolutely.
"Stella, we've got to go back around here. There's a horde in front of us," Iggy said, nudging her to follow.
She withdrew, following him around the large open market that was packed with zombies. She hadn't seen so many in... ever.
They had to go two blocks east before they could continue on towards the docks. She had a feeling that that was where the dragon head released him. If the dragon hadn't killed Bob, she sure as hell was going to. Then she was going to revive him and then kill him again. Then she might figure out a way to get him to ask for forgiveness. He might need help with that.
Iggy threw a rock behind them to try to draw the zombies out. They continued running down another block before continuing South. The large open market had extended for five blocks on each way so she was surprised that they had to go so wide. With the fire spreading from west to east, she was more comfortable moving that direction anyway.
She was beginning to get warm and started to think about how nice it would be to take off her shirt or her gambeson. The idea of jumping into the quiet sea for a brief moment was very alluring and then she snapped back into the present. A zombie spun as Iggy hit it with a spear. They didn't even wait to see if it went down. They just kept moving.
Then they began to see less zombies as they got closer to the docks.
"Where the heck is Bob?" Stella said, first scanning for threats and then looking for her man.
"One of those ships just had a zombie tossed off of it. I think that we should start there," Iggy said.
She looked where he pointed and sure enough, there was a zombie in the drink. He wasn't sure if that was one of her zombies or who was responsible for it, but at that point in time she didn't care. It was enough evidence for her to go off of.
Of course, Bob had chosen to disengage from the dragon at the furthest ship from the docks. Another zombie went flying over the ship, nearly splashing the two of them. Stella was so pissed that she didn't even care. It was her best pair of boots, her only pair of boots and he had gotten them wet.
He was going to have to pay for this.
Her pace quickened, somehow she was running even faster than before. She had regretted not getting the cards together to make a monk class before, but it hadn't been the same amount of regret as now. If she had that class she would be running circles around him.
When she got to the boat that was quickly losing passengers, another zombie full on splashed her by falling in.
Stella's gambeson was soaked. Stella was soaked. Stella was so hot that she didn't notice either as she climbed up the webbing on the side of the ship. Two more zombies flew over her and she was now one hundred percent certain that it was Bob's doing.
Her head peeked over, long enough to determine that there were no zombies within reach. She waved for Iggy to follow, and then flung herself over it. Midway up the ship, Bob was fighting for his life. He was making it look easy and that was one of her other gripes.
"Bob, you're such an asshole," She said. "We're definitely going to talk about this later."
She closed in and engaged with the first of the zombies to notice her. Then she realized that it was unsure footing and she slipped. Fear gripped her harder than anything else I had so far. Every thought she had about hitting. Bob was now placed by the fact that she was prone on the ground with a zombie over her. It hadn't even had the decency to fall on her short swords.
She embraced her incoming death, as there was nothing else that she could do.
Then, Bob barreled over, rolling the zombie into a judo throw and tossing it over the edge.
It was quite literally the hottest thing that she had ever seen a man do. She was so ready to swoon when she realized that she should probably get up.
There were more coming.
"You were saying something about a talk?" Bob said.
Iggy got over the side and joined them.
"I think it can wait," Stella said.
The three remaining zombies on deck finally got them in their sights.
"Do either of you have this or can I take this one?" Iggy said.
Stella and Bob looked at each other. Both shrugged and turned back to him. Bob picked up a cutlass from the floor and gave it a few practice swings.
"You know what? We'll be right behind you. I'm never going to leave you behind again, Stella."
"Oh Bob! I could kiss you right now!" she replied.
"Can you guys both please save it for the after action report time?" Iggy said, casting a purple glow with his magic missile spell.
"I think we can do that," Stella said.