I hold onto Avara with what little strength I have, as she runs back toward town as fast as she can without burning herself out before we get there.
"They're everywhere!" Myra is shouting as animal and monster alike swarm past. Gram and her can only take down so many of them so fast, the rest running headlong toward town. Just watching them move, she can tell that most are running like they've been spooked by something. Whatever it is, it must be big. It looks like it's scared away every living thing in the forest. Even normal animals are getting caught up in it, small things like hobins running because predators from the deep woods are coming out where they should not be.
"We're on our way," I respond, though I know I'm in no shape to actually fight. I can barely even use mana right now. But Avara and Hilde could help, and I'm sure there's something I could do too. Like tell the guards. No one has even reported to Frank yet!
Hilde has already gone on ahead of us, flying to reach the northern city wall, just as the sun begins to peek over the horizon and I hear the first bell ring through Riko's ears.
She's perched up above the guards in the garrison, everyone wandering around tiredly in the early morning. Getting ready for their morning shifts and the harvest festival, like nothing is wrong. The only reason she isn't telling them is because she refuses to give herself away to all the guards. Which, I mean, it's understandable, but... but still! People might die!
Meanwhile, Chisa has taken to the air, tired and blind as she is at night. The first rays of the sun are helping now, to make out the swarm of creatures. Some hit the walls and break away to either side, but a lot of them just tear through the partially reconstructed section of wall around the gate, spilling directly into the city streets. Further south, they hit the southeast gate the same way. It does look like the castle guard are starting to respond faster since they're closer to the gate and word would travel much faster. But... that's about all Chisa can tell, they're so far away.
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At our rushed pace, we make it back to town by the time the sun has started to become fully visible. That's also when someone runs into the garrison, screaming about the monsters swarming into town, and the guards all start running around in panic, grabbing equipment - full combat armor they don't wear on ordinary guard duty. They all rush through preparations, working themselves into their gear with the loud clatter of metal chain and plate filling the building.
Frank grabs the man, just some farmer from the looks of him. Probably from the festival. With burning eyes, he demands more information, but all the man knows is that he saw a whole horde of terrifying monsters coming into town through the west gate. With one shouted command, Frank sends a group of guards out to check, and they storm down Main Street.
Approaching the north gate at the same time they're all scrambling, I don't know what to do. They've opened the gate since it's after first bell, but I have to get changed or I can't go past the guards. And Hilde is too busy swooping down and sending blades of wind into the swarm of beasts pouring through the west gate, to help fly me over the wall.
"It'll be fine," Avara speaks up, though she doesn't feel nearly as confident as she tries to sound. Just out of sight of the gate, she shrugs me off her back, and I sit in the grass while Chisa makes a pass at the house. It turns out that our window is closed, which, alright, I definitely should have thought of that... But there's a bag hanging just outside the window. I smile without meaning to. Emily...
Chisa snatches the bag and swoops over to us, dropping it right into my arms. Despite my torn up body's complaints, I change as fast as I can, stuffing my robe in the bag and throwing it to Chisa. She can't get it back in my room right now, so she just flies back to somewhere in town she uses to sleep sometimes, where it will be safe and out of the way.
The moment I'm dressed, I turn to Avara. "Go. Help Myra and Gram."
"Better idea," she counters, thinking of how they can only deal with bits of the horde from out in the forest. Not to mention, the monsters. The real danger is inside town now. As much as I don't want to, I know if we want to protect the people, they'll have to go into town to do it. But that would reveal them to the townspeople, beyond just rumors and a few posters in the monster hunter's guild that no one is a member of.
But to keep my friends out of danger - to have them stand by, while the people are being killed... I can't do that. "Ok." I agree, wordlessly letting her fill me in on her plan. After taking a big breath and bracing myself for how much this is going to hurt, we share a nod. Then I go running for the gate, as fast as I can make my battered legs go without giving out on me.
"Monster!" I scream, her sign to run out from behind the hill, following after me in an exaggeratedly slow run. The gate guards almost fall over themselves at the sight of us, before forming a line, spears leveled. I'm uncomfortably reminded of the time I ran from an actual monster like this, but try not to think about it for now. I make my throbbing legs carry me the last of the distance, ducking underneath the men's spears, to run straight through the town gate.
Behind me, Avara simply runs through the men, their spears snapping on contact with her fur, so she can shoulder past them, and continue running through the gate after me. I swerve off Main Street shortly after, but she just keeps running. The moment I make it to an alleyway, out of sight from the guards that take off chasing Avara, I collapse.
"Argh!" I grunt, grasping at my screaming leg and ribs, sitting back against the wall, jaw clenched. Come on, I don't have time for this! As soon as the agony dies down enough, I forcibly stumble upright again, and start at an awkward, shuffling limp southward, to the garrison.
The guards Frank sent to the gate to check whether there's actually a huge monster attack have only just made it there, so now they'll have to run all the way back. It takes too long for information to travel, for men to go out and then report back on the situation. If I could get there, I could tell him everything he needs to know to direct the guards, far better than he can, waiting for information to travel like now.
I just have to get there.
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With many of the forest creatures swarming through the ravaged gate, Myra and Gram finally turn, and head to the city themselves. It is absolute chaos. Lots of animals, like deer and hobins, simply scatter through the surrounding streets, but the more aggressive ones are going after anything that moves. People, other animals, anything, really.
Right through the gate, they nearly trip over a moose, devouring the innards out of a dead bear. Gram slams it against the stone wall with his shoulder and tears its throat out while Myra scouts the rest of the surroundings. There's a surprisingly large group of guards just past the inner side of the wall, some armored, some not. They're doing their best to hold back another bear with their spears, this one with rugged gray fur, already matted with blood from its wounds. A number of people, dressed like merchants and farmers, are fleeing down the street behind them, various pieces of wood scattered all around.
Among the rest of the beasts is a forzz - much like the wounded bear, but larger and with four front legs. It's bounding toward the guards from the side, about to break the stalemate. Myra rushes in, leaving Gram to deal with another whole group of aff and kleet.
When the guards, already entrenched in battle, see the forzz coming, their line nearly breaks when four flee, and the other ten are pressed back by the bear, swatting aside one spear, the weapon snapping under its claws.
The man barely manages to draw his sword, before the forzz is on top of him, a scream rising in his throat when Myra leaps between. She diverts the charge, taking the brunt of the impact with a snarl, before one flash of her claws rips away much of the forzz's fur and two forelegs. She stands through the spray of gore, ducks its counterswing, and takes its throat with the next move.
She ignores the guard trying to stab her with his sword, and dashes at the next largest target, some kind of monster with lumpy, lopsided legs and a massive horn growing from its tiny head. It leaps far faster than looks possible with its body, stabbing horn first into the bear the guards are fighting, and the beast rears up, unleashing a roar that sends yet another man fleeing down the road.
"Oh, come on!" Myra complains silently, tackling and tearing apart the little monster. She only takes a moment, crouched over the spiny corpse, to reach out and blast away the evil monster rock... thing, inside, the awful stone spines breaking up to leave the body of what looks like a kleet. The little horned rabbit's horn thumps to the ground, bits and pieces scattering over the road without the rocky spines to hold it together.
With a long huff of hot breath, Myra looks past Gram, in the process of tearing apart a dozen aff that keep trying to claw and bite him, no way to make it through his protective fur. "Watch out," she warns, sending him the image of the larger monster barreling toward him so he can duck aside just in time, before it bursts through what's left of the makeshift gate structure, scattering it in wooden splinters.
This monster's a big one, taller and thicker than even Gram. Despite its twisted shape, it looks like it was originally a goat or deer. But now with dozens of legs, and a spray of razors from its head in place of horns. And massive, bulging muscles like rocks, which tense as it spots Myra in the middle of the road and charges straight for her.
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Claws shredding through the cobbles underfoot, she weaves past the horns, and blasts into the shoulder of the creature. They go tumbling through the side of a partially reconstructed building near the gate, flailing and slashing at each other in a frenzy, while Gram continues managing other, smaller things coming through the gate, so the remaining guards can rally and push forward again in an attempt to block the tide of creatures swarming in.
My thoughts turn away from them for a while, focusing instead on Avara. She's much of the way down Main Street, traveling way faster than I can in my state. When Chisa spots a monster on a nearby street, she turns that way, into the northeast district. I can't believe they've already spread so far...
I urge her silently forward when we see that the monster is after someone. The woman is backed up against a wall, swinging an empty bucket at the thing while screaming at the top of her lungs. It's a very small monster, but still rakes a claw over her midsection, before Avara crashes into it so hard, the thing splinters and splatters under her weight.
Avara spins, eyes locking onto the woman. She's holding her stomach, red with blood. She's still screaming and crying, staring at Avara now. Thankfully, the claw wound isn't bleeding that badly, so it's probably not too deep.
"Check for poison," I remind her. Of course the woman flails ineffectively at Avara, wailing as the magical creature presses her paw against her shoulder to hold her in place, so she'll stop wiggling. With a quick check, there's no sign of any evil mana poisoning. As long as she treats her wounds, she should be fine. As soon as she's determined that, Avara turns back to the main street. But she doesn't get far.
There are too many people outside already...
There are monsters everywhere, and even more animals, threatening the people out and about earlier than usual for the festival. Chisa tries to pick out the most dangerous ones, or the ones that are currently attacking people, and directs Avara down a list of priorities. There's no point trying to get to Myra and Gram when there's so much that needs doing everywhere else too.
Avara runs like mad, bounding from one street to the next. Cutting down every dangerous thing she comes across, saving as many people as she can.
Of course, there's only so much she can do on her own. There's only one of her, and hundreds of them. People are still attacked. People still die. "That one!" I gasp, still panting and sweating as I practically drag myself down the road toward the garrison, one hand clutching at the building beside me to stay upright.
All our attention sharpens when Chisa's eyes land on a boy, maybe twelve years old. He's up on top of some wooden crates, surrounded by tiny, awful looking monsters. Little skittering black things, which look like little more than oozing pools of teeth more than anything else.
Avara looks one way, then the other, but there's no good connecting street nearby. So she simply shoulders between two buildings, a few wooden boards snapping away like nothing when she hits them. That puts her down the road from the boy. She rushes in, trampling through a few of the little monsters, which shriek and leap at her, fleshy bodies bouncing off when they can't get through her magical fur. She snarls and snaps down into the things, tearing and shredding them apart until there's nothing left.
As soon as they're dead and gone, she looks up at the boy, who freezes in place atop the boxes. He doesn't look injured, so she immediately heads off, to save the next person who needs help.
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The longer they all go, the more the battles start to blur together. By the time one of the guards Frank sent out reports back, there are piles of bodies at the gate. The gate guards are up to thirteen members, with five from the garrison group having stayed at the sight of the danger, only sending one back to report.
Although, one from the original ten fled, and one more fell in battle in that time. They rest have dug in, blocking almost half of the torn open gate area, using the piles of animal corpses and broken handcarts like makeshift walls to help fend off the beasts still coming at them. They've stopped attacking Myra and Gram though, since it's clear that they're not after the men - and their weapons can't harm the magical creatures anyway.
Meanwhile, I've made some progress, but not nearly as much as I'd like. I'm only about halfway there.
As soon as the one guard rushes back in and calls out to Frank about the monsters, he shouts a command, sending most of the guard out. A few members stay back while Frank starts to get more out of the messenger, who breathlessly explains how all sorts of creatures are coming through the gate and spreading through town.
Then Frank turns and barks, "Eugene!"
"Sir!" one man immediately responds and rushes over to Frank, who is pulling a thick chain from around his neck. As soon as he manages to get it out from under his armor, he yanks it off over his head. Riko only gets a glance at what looks like a loop of metal hanging on the chain. Like a ring almost, but bigger, the gap in the center too small to fit on a finger. Frank shoves it into Eugene's hand.
"We need a draft. Go."
All the guard does is throw up an unfamiliar military-looking salute, different from any of the etiquette I've learned, before he turns to leave. On his way to the door, he tosses his spear aside, and rapidly begins to rip off pieces of the armor he just put on. One other man he grabs helps him for a few moments, pieces of his chest and arm armor soon clattering to the floor, kicked against a wall and forgotten. He doesn't fight further with the chain beneath or his leg armor, and runs out as soon as he's lightened his load. From high overhead, Chisa spots the man's shiny helmet as he runs southward as fast as his legs will carry him.
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It's a short time later, and I'm most of the way to the garrison, when Chisa, sweeping all across the city to keep us all updated on everything happening, spots the brilliant white hair below, down by the southwest gate. Catherine Lundrum and her men are darting about, with a bunch of the castle guards, carving a path through the monsters pouring through that gate.
With so many people already up and about, the chaos is spreading fast. There are people all over the streets, and when I arrive outside the garrison, there are a few guards at the door, and a whole crowd of people. From the man and woman talking to one of them, it sounds like the townspeople know something is happening, but they don't know exactly what yet.
"Please," the guard is responding, sounding equally exhausted and tense, "it's dangerous out here right now, there are monsters about. Just return home, or take shelter somewhere."
"Monsters?!" people gasp, the crowd beginning to move and jostle against each other, making it even harder to approach, their legs all in my way. There are cries questioning if the guards are going to protect us, and prayers shouted to the gods, but many of them aren't leaving. They're just getting louder and more agitated. A few even demand the guards let them into the garrison, where they think they'll be safe.
"Come on, I said it's dangerous here!" the guard shouts over the crowd, the others by the door joining in, trying to get the people to go somewhere more safe, but I can barely hear them anymore. Pushing through people's legs, it gets even worse when they all start moving. One knees me, and another steps on my foot. I grimace, but I do my best to wade forward anyway, pushing aside the large adults the best I can in my current state. It's a good thing I have so much earth mana now...
Despite receiving a number of blows from the people that don't even see me down here, I manage to make it out, crashing right into the metal leg armor of the guard as he tries to hold back the crowd. He takes one look down at me in shock, before the press of the crowd makes him stumble, and the other guards work together to push them back. I latch onto the man's leg to stay upright, even as I take a few more kicks from the near-frantic movement of the crowd behind.
I know I'm not making it past the wall of guards like this, so ignoring the crowd, I shout up at him. "I need to see Frank, it's important!"
"Go home, girl!" is all he says though, barely paying attention to me. He's completely focused on working with the other guards to hold back the crowd. I take another hit, which slips past the metal disks on my back, and seize up from the stab of my broken ribs. After hissing through my teeth, I force myself to keep thinking.
I could probably slip through their legs, but they'd definitely try to stop me. And the crowd of panicking people could overwhelm the guards if they break formation to deal with me. And that would be bad.
"Ugh," I grunt. This isn't going to work. I need to find another way. The obvious solution is the window Riko uses to get in and out, so I push away from the guard, back into the crowd. It's even worse now. I do my best to shield myself with my arms, but I nearly go down a few times anyway, before I somehow make it out the other side, limping and panting, with hardly enough energy left to stand. "Come on..." I urge myself on, staggering a wide path around the crazed crowd, moving until I make it to the side of the building. I look up at the window, but... was it always that high? And that small?
I slowly realize that Riko, being a cat, can easily jump higher than an adult's head. I lean, both hands against the wall, groaning. I'm small enough to fit, and I know I could reach it if I really tried, but I'm so tired, and everything hurts so bad...
With one deep breath, I clench my hands into tight fists. Besides the metal disks still strapped to my back, I have the black star metal with me. Either of them could help me get up there, but that would take mana. Instead, I brace myself once more, as I limp to the other side of the narrow road on this side of the building, to get a running start. Leaning into my training, I use the same climbing method as I did for those trees in the forest.
Jaw clenched, I run for the wall, kicking against it with every bit of my enhanced strength, straight upward. I barely manage to grasp the edge with one extended hand, my broken ribs flaring and my head rolling back, but my fingers dig into the stone and I scream through my teeth, using every bit of power left in my arm to pull up and catch on with my other hand. I pull myself up, into the window.
I topple through, coming out on the other side, and fall straight down. My fall is barely broken, with a massive crash into discarded armor, which sends me tumbling across the floor like a broken doll. I hear scattered shouts, probably blacking out a few times, head spinning. I definitely just made some of my injuries even worse...
But I don't care, among the shouting voices, I hear Frank. I have no energy left to get up and everything's spinning anyway. I force myself onward. "Frank! I'm here to help!"