When the two groups saw one another, Ronin thought there would be a shootout right there. Each of them had spent the entire run through the city, shooting everything they saw move. Thankfully, they were able to rein it in. Only one of the unnamed scouts let off an accidental shot, which went high as Unyielding oak ducked from reflexes enhanced several fold, thanks to Jade’s meddling.
“What the hell.” She called out angrily from her prone position. “Save the bullets for the bad guys.”
“Sorry,” the scout said, rubbing the back of her helmet in a clearly bashful display. “Orders were to paint the town red, wasn’t paying attention.”
“Enough,” Hunter said, waving off any further words. “How are you all sitting on ammunition? I’ve got seventeen rounds left.”
“Fifteen.”
“Twenty-three.”
“Twelve.”
The numbers came raining in as each scout and then K3 and Unyielding oak gave their ammunition counts to the scout’s leader.
“Alright, K3.” She said once she’d thought over the counts. “You’ve got the most rounds at thirty-one. So, why don’t you trade with Stone. She’s only got twelve, and she’s also the best shot we’ve got. Once we get inside, I’m afraid you will have to play front man for us to keep the hobs back while we put fresh holes in them. So, no point hogging the fullest rifle since you’ll have your hands full.”
“Agreed,” K3 said, Handing Stone, the scout who’d almost shot Unyielding oak, his rifle. “Keep it. Twelve shots aren’t worth the time it will take me to get my hammer and shield out, once their gone.” He said, waving off her attempts to hand her rifle over.
“Ok then, anyone injured?” Hunter asked next, when no one said anything, she nodded. “Then let’s do this. K3 you’re on point. Unyielding oak, you stick to his back and kill anyone who tries to get around him. Then Shadow, Whisper, and Stone you take the center position, shoot them as they come in, try to conserve ammo but don’t let too many converge on K3 at once. Whisper, Moss, and I will bring up the rear. We’ll not help you clear the way; we’re going to keep anyone from coming in behind us. Got it? Ok good, let’s move.”
Ronin could see from his vantage point, the area right behind the gate was free of hostiles. The team made it all the way to the castle walls without being spotted. In fact, Ronin could tell they wouldn’t encounter any enemies until they reached a moss and mushroom filled courtyard near an outer door. He counted two hobs, reclining against a pair of pillars carved into perfect squares. Time had taken a toll on them, but they looked structurally sound.
Ronin marveled at the view he had. He could see everything, see through everything. Walls, roofs, low or no light, didn’t matter. All he had to do was reach out and move the screen around with his mind. He could even move from one of his people to another, just by thinking about them. He had already mapped out the most secured and quietest route through the castle to the throne room… Yet, no matter how much he could see, he couldn’t tell his people any of it.
“Pretty neat huh?” Jade asked, waving its arms around as it spoke. “It cost me over ten billion credits. I had to save up for a few thousand years to be able to afford it. I think it was worth the money though since I love to watch the… breath of life trees, I think is the closest translation. They grow at different speeds you know, depending on location on the planet, sun exposure and a whole bunch of other things. After the initial growth phase, it takes decades for any noticeable growth. So, I’ve been following it in real time across the globe, it’s fascinating stuff…”
“It really is, Jade,” Ronin said. Not so much interrupting, as redirecting. “But I noticed I can’t seem to talk to my people, why is that?” If he could only tell K3 and the scouts that there was a guard sleeping under a wide brimmed mushroom… No. Stone got it with a silent shot that took it under the jaw.
“Ohhh… That was a good shot, why do they call her Stone though? I’d think her name would be Good Shot or something like that… And I didn’t buy that option. I wasn’t in a command position, so I didn’t have many responsibilities. In my stasis stone I was free to do whatever I wanted. The old boss didn’t really care what most of us got up to… I mean the whole, ‘use your time between here and the new planet to practice being a settler,’ thing made sense on paper. But let’s be real here guys, no one used it for that. I used mine to grow trees. And just in case you didn’t know, trees don’t talk… I mean the #$&%$(… I mean the ‘ladybugs’ are sometimes fun to talk to, but they don’t really talk about anything other than fighting off the ‘wasps’ and eating ‘aphids.’ Golly your language comprehension limitations can be vexing sometimes.”
“Her name is probably Stone because she was good at throwing them. Before my team pulled them from the caves, they lived… well, like this.” Ronin panned over to a group of goblins, hiding inside a house. They were filthy, wearing rotting batlin or lizard hides as clothes, and were keeping themselves busy by eating bugs off each other, while the battle raged outside. He didn’t linger on them, moving instantly back to the castle, but it was enough to remind him that what he was doing would be beneficial to these people in the long run.
“Ohh wow… Yea, I understand now why you…” Jade prattled on, Ronin didn’t really mind. He had the strong feeling it had been denied company for an exceptionally long time. Besides, the minor distraction it offered him, kept him from brooding on how many of his people had already died.
“The castle clearly wasn’t made by any of the races currently inhabiting the caves.” Elyria said, bringing the conversation back on track. “The stonework is too perfect. Many of the pieces are carved from one giant piece of stone. I haven’t seen any tools capable of the task, or anyone capable enough to do the work. It’s odd though, there aren’t any decorations or engravings. It’s just a stone city, with sharp corners and square edges.”
Ronin looked at the castle, furrowing his brow in concentration. It was indeed made from large pieces of stone, carved into square blocks. These blocks formed pavers, pillars, and were stacked on each other to form square buildings and walls. Everything was square, all the walls were of an even height, width, and depth. Even the roofs of the houses were flat, forming blocks resting in neat rows. Heck, even the alley ways K3 had run down were in straight lines and the intersections were at perfect nineties.
“It looks really neat and orderly,” he said at last with a shrug. “But is it really all that strange?” He figured it must be when Elyria looked at him with incredulity.
“Is that strange? White flame, have you never been to an actual city before? I know you’ve been to the human capital… granted it was partially abandoned and burned, and the bugbear honeycomb, not to mention Andy’s reef… So, how can you not think this is strange?” Ronin thought about that for a second, before replying.
“The human capital was made primarily of wooden buildings with stone foundations and thatched roofs. Valley’s pass was made entirely out of dinosaur hide tents, the honeycomb is a solid stone city carved from the very mountain and crafted so every building is a unique work of art. As for Andy’s reef, well that’s just a ‘modern’ metropolis with a sci-fi slant… what’s so strange about a stone city that’s been well laid out?”
“You… actually have a point.” The moon elf said with a sigh. “I’ve been looking at everything through the lens of my people’s home ship. There, everything is very much in tune with nature. Lots of curves and rounded edges, living buildings and wind chimes… I suppose everything here is odd to me.” Ronin thought about the moon elves home ship. It was a large oblong sphere, that he thought was open on the inside, and contained a small forest world. A ship design that was death to everyone inside if the haul was breached, but it seemed to work for them.
“Hey, Elyria,” he said, wondering about something for the first time. “Your people sent down fifty fighters didn’t they, why only fifty? Surely there are thousands of moon elves up there. Why not send down a few hundred to help wipe out the locust threat?” Ronin already knew they couldn’t. He’d set it up that way on purpose to reduce the cost of bringing so many ships into his world’s orbit. But it was so strange for them to follow those rules, that he had to ask what their rationalization was.
“This system is super weird.” Elyria said after a long pause, where she visibly collected her thoughts. “We were forced from our hyper transit and dropped into this backwater, and for some reason, we can’t leave.” As she talked, the trio continued to watch the screens.
K3 was stronger than ever, smashing hobs to paste as he ran at a near dead sprint through the halls. Unyielding oak ran right behind him, any hobgoblin who survived his hammer, fell to her daggers. The scout teams were spread out now, checking into each room as they passed, and killing hobs by the score. Three of them had run dry of ammo, having replaced their mark Vs with the javelins the hobs seemed to favor, but that didn’t slow them down. Being able to resupply after every kill was a fine way to keep stocked with fresh projectiles. The only problem was they’d missed a turn that would have taken them straight into the throne room. They’d still get there, eventually, but they would be well out of ammo by then.
“… So, we were stuck. Whatever strange phenomenon that pulled us from hyper in the first place, won’t let us leave the system. Worse yet, of the nine planets your system holds, only the one is habitable… but another anomaly surrounds it. There is a barrier that encompasses your world, which won’t let us drop more than fifty people onto the surface. It’s completely unexplainable with any tech we have. Only fifty, but if any of us die… like my husband did… another is free to come down.” Her voice had gone husky, and Ronin pretended not to see the tear she wiped away. “Thankfully,” she continued, “The barrier is weakening. We’d pushed an additional person through for a total of fifty-one, by last communication. And we project it will have failed entirely, within another two to three years.” Ronin was jolted completely from his observation of his people’s life and death battle, and an icy trickle of dread creeped its way down his spine at those words.
“What did you say?” He asked, breathlessly. “The barrier is failing. More of you have been able to come down?” If that was true, the implications it had were… terrifying.
“Yes,” Elyria said with a nod. “A good thing too. We’ll be able to wipe out the locust threat, before it makes its way off the huge island, we’re located on… Though its likely they will have found a way onto the third large landmass that has been locked from them by the steep mountain and the sea at Andy’s reef by then… but my people won’t be stuck up there anymore. Sure, we could land on the other planets, but they are lifeless rocks or gaseous swamps that wouldn’t work well for us.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“… Elyria,” Ronin said. “How many other ships did you say were also trapped in this system with you?” He asked the question calmly, already knowing the answer.
“Nineteen.” She said, brow furrowed at his tone. “It’s a good thing our weapons don’t work in this system though, because some of the other races stuck up there are really nasty… like the kaldarr…”
“So, in two years…” Ronin interrupted, “my planet is going to be flooded with twenty advanced races… many of whom have reputations that aren’t very savory?” What had he done? His people were getting wiped out by hobgoblins and winged goblins. Who was he going to protect them from countless advanced races, races that had advanced weapons, coming down on mass in just two years? Two years that he’d be gone off world, for at least half of.
“Oh,” Elyria said, having grasped the problem.
“You human analogs are so silly. Can you not even count? How many fingers am I holding up?” Jade asked, holding up forelimbs with their two-clawed toes. “This system only has nine planets, this is true. But Your system, the one in the stasis stone, has ten.” It twirled around and shot its forelimbs into the air with a ‘ta-da’ as a projection of a solar system appeared in the air above them. “See, there are ten planets. Oohh look, you can even see those twenty ships flying around… wow they really like the new planet, don’t they?”
Ronin and his companions gaped in open mouthed shock at the projection. It was a near perfect copy of Ronin’s own earth, from the cretaceous period. Pangea had been split up, but the continental drift was still starting, so the land masses were close together. The planet was in the same orbit as Ronin’s world, only shifted around the sun about a quarter revolution away. It was orbited by its own moon… Also, twenty ships of various origins were bearing down on the world on mass.
“Looks like there are no restrictions to landing on that world… mmmhhhmmm, let’s see… acquired from Philip, in an honor duel… Wow, you humans… almost extinct and your still killing each other.” Ronin blinked, well at least that explained where the mystery planet had come from. The screen zoomed in to focus on the new planet.
“Oh no,” he breathed, looking at the infrastructure that covered the world. “The whole planet is covered in cities, fairly high-tech cities too, though I don’t see any space fairing capabilities.”
“True,” Gunner said. “It looks like they are on a technological level with Andy’s reef. It will get messy.”
“Why would it get messy?” Jade asked, swiveling its whole body around on its six legs to look at each of them in turn.
“… because Jade.” Elyria said after a while of silence, “many of the races on those ships are war loving peoples. Like the kaldarr… there’s going to be war on that planet very soon.”
“Ooohhh… barbarians.” Jade said, modulating the mechanical tone to sound like a whisper but cranking the volume so that it would be impossible for the three not to hear it.
“Perhaps we are,” Ronin said with a sigh of resignation. “Or maybe it’s just me. I crafted each one of those races from my old world’s fictional writings… I… caused so much suffering.”
“Hey, human,” Jade said, patting him on the back. “Look on the bright side. All those ships are going to be too busy slaughtering Philip’s population of… let me see, eleven billion… now, to worry about your planet’s small, separated communities.”
“… thank you, Jade.” Ronin said, fighting back the urge to shoot the beetle. “That made me feel, just, so much better.”
“Of course, human.” Jade said with a mechanical lilt. “We’re $%&#, I mean ‘friends’, after all.”
“Look,” Gunner said, pointing down at the undercity overview. She’d spent most of the conversation closely following what the scouts were doing. As Ronin should have been, he admonished himself, looking down at the screen again.
K3 had just forced open a huge stone door, one of a set that led directly into the throne room. Thankfully, he hadn’t decided to push them open together, since once a gap appeared in the doors no less than thirty javelins flew at it. K3 was well armored, and had his shield up, so he wasn’t harmed. Still, the number of foes packed into that room gave even the temporarily enhanced giant pause.
“Where’s moss?” Ronin asked, counting the scouts. There had been six of them, now he only saw five. None of them were carrying mark Vs anymore either. Each scout was now armed only with their daggers.
“She’s dead,” Gunner said flatly. “Guard ambushed her from an alcove, and her mark V was empty. Sloppy mistake, I taught them to always keep a count of their rounds.” Ronin knew better than to think she didn’t care about Moss, just because of her tone. Brie Gunner was a lot of things, but uncaring about others wasn’t one of them.
“So, you’ve finally made it to my throne room. I have to say I’m surprised; I thought the batlins would keep you all out of my cit…” The hobgoblin king, a giant specimen who must top six feet, wearing an oversized, tattered cloak made from several stitched together hobats said. He had started a monologue, of all things, when he had to jump aside to avoid a thrown javelin. “What the…” Ronin’s people didn’t wait once the door was open, other than a quick glance around to ascertain the enemy. They saw fifty hobgoblins dressed in black lizard scale mail, holding javelins, and armed with round shields and cutlasses, before bursting into action.
The two groups met in a flurry of blades, the hobs organized and shoulder to shoulder, while only K3 and Unyielding oak had stayed together on Ronin’s side. The scouts had split up as soon as they’d entered the room, trying to work themselves into the enemy ranks. A strategy that immediately showed its weaknesses, as a pair of hobs blocked the dagger thrusts from breeze, the first one to reach the line. While she was being tied up, a third hob rammed his cutlass into the gap between her helmet and chest armor. Dropping her to the ground in a writhing tangle of limbs.
She didn’t go alone, having gotten her own dagger into the armpit of the hob who’d stabbed her, bringing him down with her and creating an opening that Hunter took full advantage of. The scouts’ first member darted into the opening before the hobs could close ranks, and blood started to spray. A similar scene had taken place on the other side of the hall from the entry door. Shadow led the charge there, with Whisper bringing up the rear. The shield wall stopped Shadow, with two blades entering her torso, but she managed to bring down one of her attackers, creating an opening that Whisper and Stone slipped into, bringing death to the hobgoblin ranks.
Ronin winced in sympathetic pain as two of his people went down. He didn’t know if they were dead, or just injured, but either way they were out of this fight. His eyes jumped from battle to battle, the scouts, who had also been enhanced by Jade, wreaked havoc among the hobs. While K3, with Unyielding oak at his back, moved slowly through the tide of bodies, swinging his hammer like an unstoppable boulder rolling down a hill. No one who’d been hit with that hammer got up again, and those who were close enough to be hit but were missed, got a quick slice to something vital from the elf.
The hobgoblin king looked on in shocked horror, as his troops were demolished around him. He’d backed up the dais stairs, until his back was resting against a stone throne. It was just as featureless and free of ornamentation as the rest of the castle, though the hobgoblin had thrown a few batlin hides over it for comfort.
“Help me,” he called out, looking to an upper corner of the room, where a trio of hobats hung upside down from poles that looked purpose build to serve as perches. “I’m the king of the city. I’ve claimed the throne… you must protect me.” He was nearly shouting by the end, Ronin focused on the king and the hobats while his people worked their way through the royal guards.
“You wish for aid from the colony?” One of the hobats asked, flapping its wings on the perch.
“Yes, damn it. Get down here and help me.” The king shouted as he prepared and threw another javelin towards the slowly approaching K3, who deflected it with his heavy steel shield.
“Very well,” the hobat said, dropping from the perch and flying out the window.
“Wha… Where the hell are you going?” The king demanded after the fleeing hobat.
“You requested aid from the colony,” one of the two remaining hobats said. “Our brother messenger is going to get aid.” It also flapped its wings while it spoke.
“No, damn it.” The king bellowed, throwing his third and final javelin. “I want you, the messengers to help me. Right here and now.”
“Understood,” said the second messenger, dropping from the perch and heading out the window after his companion.
“What is wrong with you?” The king shouted, now brandishing a long narrow sword at K3, and holding a buckler in his off hand.
“You requested we help you immediately, my brother is going to ask for permission from the colony.” The final hobat said with a flap of his wings.
“Of forget it,” said the hobgoblin king, spitting to the side and shaking off the cloak of hobat fur. To reveal a set of lizard scale armor, which looked much thicker than the normal sets his men wore. “This is exactly why I forbid you lot from entering my city in the first place.” K3 had reached the dais by that point and moved in to end things with one clean hammer blow. Only to be completely sidestepped by the hobgoblin king.
“You’re going to have to do better than that.” He said with a sneer, blade flicking out to bounce off K3’s helmet. The strike had come dangerously close to the small opening that served as a visor. K3 stepped back, suddenly more waery of the big hob. The hesitation didn’t last though, and Ronin watched as he moved in again, swinging the hammer around in a horizontal arc.
The king leaned back, helping the blow along with his buckler, not so much blocking or redirecting, just assisting it on its way past him. He then followed that up with another strike from his narrow blade. This time, the thrust penetrated the narrow gap in the helm and pierced into K3’s helmet. Ronin couldn’t see how much damage had been done, but the sword came away bloody.
“K3,” Unyielding oak yelled, vaulting up the dais to block the follow up stab attempt from the king while the kaldarr stumbled back. What followed was a dance of blade and shield so fast that if Ronin had been a standard human, he doubted he’d be able to follow it. The hobgoblin king was incredible, even more impressive considering the fact that Unyielding oak had been temporarily enhanced by Jade somehow.
“You’re pretty good,” the king said after over a minute of neither side being able to strike a blow. “But you won’t be able to beat me before reinforcements arrive, you know that don’t you? Wouldn’t it be better to cut your losses now and get out of my city?” It was clearly a delaying tactic, designed to get inside Unyielding oak’s head and make her hesitate. Unfortunately for the hobgoblin king, Unyielding oak wasn’t subject to uncertainty, or second guessing herself. She was as ridged in her convictions as the mighty oak. She might break if pushed too hard, but she would never bend.
“Save it,” Whisper said, as she joined the fight. “We knew what coming here could mean, we’ll capture this city for our lord or die in the attempt.” The king was proving to be a match for both women, using his shield, and the narrow blade, independently of one another to block and counter the pair, even positioning one or the other of them to intercept blows meant for himself.
“Oh yes, your ‘lord’,” He mocked, opening a deep laceration across whisper’s wrist. The goblin was forced away, when the dagger in that hand fell free from her spasming grip. She dropped the other dagger to staunch the bleeding. “It’s a shame he’s too much of a coward to come in person. Perhaps I’ll have to march on his city when I’ve finished with the lot of you. Should be easy pickings once all the fighters are dealt with.” As Whisper fell away, Stone slipped in to cover her role, since nearly all the guards had been dealt with by this point.
During the entire exchange, the king hadn’t allowed himself to move away from his throne. Should one of the combatants get too close to it, he’d head in and cut them off. Hunter, having finished off the final guard, vaulted onto the dais herself, just as the doors were pushed open and another twenty plus hobgoblins burst in, accompanied by the sounds of the king’s laughter.
“What will you do now?” He asked mockingly, deflecting an attack from Hunter, and sending his blade forward to score a shallow cut across her cheek. “The longer this fight goes on, the worse off the lot of you are, and now I have more me…” He was cut off abruptly when K3, having dropped his massive shield and hammer, smashed into him at full speed. The blow knocked the pair completely off the dais and gave Hunter the chance to dart forward to plant herself on the empty throne.
“NOO!” screamed the hobgoblin king, as the entire room shook. There was a flash of light from beneath the throne itself and Hunter’s screams of pain joined the kings.