“There there, it’s ok… you’re safe now. No demons would dare to come into a holy temple.” Maya cooed softly, cradling the crying boy as he hugged her knees tightly.

But why is she sitting on my bed, though?

Diane tried to stare deep into the sturdy stone of the ceiling as if searching for some of life’s greatest meanings hidden within the smooth construction. She shot occasional glances back down at Kristoff after he finally emerged from his self-imposed seclusion.

Diane closed her eyes tighter than a clamp, forcing all thoughts from her mind.

It’s fine. I’m just fine. Everything’s fine.

“And… and… then that blob just…” Kristoff sniffled, the pupils of his eyes dilating in his tear-laden eyes as he glanced fearfully over his shoulders again.

Another thunderous roar of cannon fire echoed through the window sill.

“Go on, just let it all out. It’s perfectly safe here.” Maya continued, a brief look of concern hidden beneath her calm and soothing words.

She yanked the terrified boy close to herself as the door slammed open with enough force to loosen the hinges. The sounds of the fighting outside had masked the arguing pair now forcefully entering the room.

“I don’t give a damn about the girl, the Baron, or anyone else! I’m just here for the boy.” The large, muscly arm that slammed the door open was followed by an equally intimidating beast of a man.

Maya stood up abruptly, and Diane winced as the bed jostled with the sudden weight change.

Kristoff held onto her waist even tighter. “K-K-K-Krom?!”

“THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING, BOY?!” The titan thundered as he stormed into the room. Kobari followed him into the room, seeming like he had aged another ten years in a single night.

“I-I-I just…” Kristoff stuttered as Maya pushed him behind her.

“NO. What do you think YOU are doing, coming into MY ward like this?!” The Miko strode up to the man twice her size, matching his ferocious gaze with steel in her eyes and puffing out her chest with authority.

“I’m taking this foolish bastard back to the barracks, before… this little devil gets him killed!” Krom spat back, glaring daggers toward Diane and earning himself an angry yowl as Clover roused himself from his rest.

“How was I supposed to know there were going to be demons out the- ack?!” Diane sat straight up, angrily refuting the Royal Garrison commander’s words. However, a single well-placed poke from Maya sent her collapsing back into the bed, as she writhed helplessly with clenched teeth in her wrappings until the pain subsided. “Patients. Must. Stay. In. Their. Beds.”

“You wouldn’t have run into any demons if you hadn’t broken out of the quarantine! Once this is over, you’ll- …!” Spittle flew from Krom’s raging mouth as Kobari and Maya tackled him in a desperate bid to slow his advance towards Diane.

“You said you’re just here for the boy, so leave the girl be!” Kobari sputtered as he was drug along behind Krom. The shadows of two temple guardians blocked the doorway, ignoring additional shouting from outside the room.

“What’d you just say, girl?!” Krom stopped suddenly in his tracks, his eyes widening further while the young miko and the old priest’s efforts failed to affect the giant.

Kristoff leapt at the opportunity, standing between Krom and Diane. “It- It was my idea! I asked her to take me outside, because you and mom never let me leave!” He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth shut, waiting for a strike that never came.

Instead, he was met with silence. Kristoff slowly opened his eyes only to be met with a gaze steeped in confusion.

“Boy, is this true? How the hell are ya even alive?” Kristoff winced as a massive hand settled tightly on his shoulder.

“I’m not a liar, and I’m not scared of you!” Diane shouted back, freezing in place with only her head leaned up at a nasty glance from Maya.

Kristoff closed his eyes tightly and nodded his head vigorously. “A-and there was a back cloaked man, with a crossbow, and a weird hat! He- he helped us! Him and Diane, they made sure we escaped first while the bat lady tore apart the blob!”

“Even if that’s true, there is no way…. WHAT?!” Krom’s knuckles turned white as Kristoff cringed under the force of his grip. “It is! And when we told guards after we got back, they started arguing with each other! I swear!”

Krom loosened his grip on the boy and patted his shoulder gently.

“I believe you. Still, can’t leave ya here. Yer mom is back in the garrison, and it’d be my head if you died.” Krom murmured as he closed his eyes in concentration.

“W-what did you just say?!” Kristoff stuttered, as the entire room stared silently at the pensive commander.

Krom furtively looked around before whispering menacingly, “You’d do well to forget I ever said that. Jeffries, your platoon takes the boy! The rest of you, on me. We’re ending this mess.” Krom shouted as he lifted Kristoff off the ground with a single hand and marched back out of the room.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Kobari held Maya back, against her protests, as the kid was passed off like an object to a heavily armored knight outside the door.

Krom shot one last glance back at Kobari, with murderous intent amplified by his scarred face. “Just making damn sure, it’s the Baron’s men who started this, right?”

The old man swallowed the spit in his mouth and nodded. “Y-yes sir, again, our sources reported as such. A-and that they were hunting for anyone else who saw the demons.”

“It won’t be a problem anymore.” With those parting words, Krom unsheathed his great sword and left the room.

----------------------------------------

“Hold your positions! Shields up!” Ivar’s guard captain shouted from the front, as they approached an intersection.

They had picked up the pace, marching quickly down the wooden wharves as the whistles and shouts of soldiers filled the air behind them. However, while the initial siege was broken, the flaming display brought out the rest of the Baron’s reserves in full pursuit.

“Bring me closer up front now.” Ivar gave D a curt nod before shouting to his captain, “What’d you see?”

“Bodies sir, don’t know who won though.” The captain shouted back, then tensed as he yelled, “Incoming! Tighten formation!”

Notched arrows protruded suddenly from the surrounding windows, trained on their position as dozens of heavily armed, rough men in sailors’ furs burst from the doors and rushed screaming like blood-addled devils towards their formation.

“HOLD! HOLD YA ANTSY BASTARDS, THEY AIN’T OUR TARGET!” A deep voice bellowed over the cacophony. A trunk-like arm pushed aside the blood-thirsty berserkers as the other hand rested on the hilt of a massive battle axe slung over the monolith’s shoulder.

“Well if it ain’t ol’ Ragnar! Just who I was lookin’ ta see! Move, move, outta the way damnit!” Ivar hollered excitedly, motioning for D to continue past his guard column. The thick Norse accents grew thicker as the two men clasped hands, grinning from ear to ear.

“Only you could ‘ave made such a fine mess o’ the place, friend!” Ivar waved belatedly across the scattered corpses.

“Pffft, Hahahaha! None o’ this cowardly lot comes even close to my berserkirs, course the old ways knew best how to fight!” Ragnar’s hearty laugh echoed out, his horned helm casting the visage of an amused demon towering above a feral old man.

Ivar smiled viciously in solidarity, “Damn straight they did, damn straight.”

“Whenever you’re done talking, the Baron’s men will be on us any minute now.” D notched an arrow and tilted his head, “And, by the sound of it, there will be a lot of them!”

The low rumble of countless footsteps rushing across the boards of the wharf grew steadily louder, along with the glint of armor in the moonlight as the shadows quickly came into focus.

“Ragnar, you got the ships into the harbor?” Ivar asked, unperturbed.

“’ Course I did. A true Viking lives and dies on the ocean, and no way I’d risk losing our ships to the damned cowards.” Ragnar answered, equally unconcerned.

“Then let’s show ’em what our ships can do.” Ivar locked eyes with Ragnar and elicited an almost sad nod of acknowledgment.

“It’s a damn shame. Never thought it’d use ’em on our own damn town.” Ragnar made a quick hand signal to one of the archers behind him while D readied his own bow, cursing under his breath as he saw the enemy troops lock into their formation. “Whatever you’re going to do, you better do it fast! They’re here!”

The Baron’s troops locked their shields in place, as their mage-line cast shield-wall spells above their front-line, while reinforcing their archers’ arrows.

“Barrier line, up! Shield-walls, up at full-strength! Lock em’ high and low!” Ragnar bellowed out, as his own troops rushed into formation. His mage-line focused entirely on their defensive spells, casting interconnected shields from the water beneath the walkways to the air above their front-line.

He smiled sadly, as the archer behind him lit his arrow in green flame and launched it toward the Baron’s troops. He ignored their laughter and looks of glee as their line marched slowly forwards, the green arrow pinging harmlessly off their barrier.

D observed cautiously as lights flared up across the water of the harbor. With a rapid array of shouts, the Baron’s mages twisted in a panic to cast more barriers on their flanks.

*THOOM THOOM THOOM*

“FUCKING HELL!” D dropped as low as he could get at the thunderous roar of a volley of ship cannons fired simultaneously.

Even expecting this, it’s god-damn loud!

The momentary confidence in the Baron’s soldiers disappeared as the volley flew underneath the opaque shields and exploded into the support pilings beneath their feet! The wood erupted into a hail of flame and splinters, tearing through soft flesh and solid armor alike!

Those who survived turned screaming to flee back down the wooden pathways, desperate to escape the kill box. Men shoved each other out of the way as others were knocked into the cold waters below. Their armor served only to drag them deeper into the harbor’s depths.

“Next volley!” Ragnar screamed, barely audible above the din of the explosions.

And with it, the archer launched another green flame arrow to land ahead of the retreating men, exacerbating their panic.

Ivar laughed maniacally as he slapped D on the back. “So tell me, devil-boy! What do you think of my fire?!”

D stared listlessly as another round of cannon fire raked across the next wharf section, sending fresh waves of wooden splinters and severed limbs flying into the barrier walls.

How the hell are we any different than monsters?

----------------------------------------

Halfgaar watched in horror from the shoreline as volley after volley ripped through his troops like fish in a barrel.

I had them cornered! I had the numbers! I should have won already!

“Damnit! Where the hell are they?! Adjutant! Get over here!” Halfgaar turned and grabbed his scrawny aide by the throat as soon as he ran over.

“The report… it said that the demon army was coming, correct?” He leaned in, whispering venomously at the choking man.

“Y-yes sir, R-Ross said… confirmed!” The man barely gurgled out underneath the Baron’s crushing grip.

“Then we just need to hold out long enough for them to get here! And I can finally leave this shithole as the new King!” Halfgaar roared at his helpless adjutant. “You don’t want to disappoint your King, now do you?!”

“N-no sir!” The man squealed, his lips taking on a new shade of blue.

“THEN-“Halfgaar stopped and held his breath.

The flames from the cannon fire revealed their shadows. Small boats sailed quietly with their small masts toward the rocky shoreline. As they crashed into the rocks and beached themselves, the whoops and howls of dozens of men leaping off of each boat filled the air as they charged through the water.

Halfgaar flung the adjutant aside, as he turned to run.

“THEN HOLD THEM HERE! I NEED TO MEET UP WITH ROSS.” The Baron screamed. His retreat towards his manor ground to a sudden halt, as he heard the sounds of fighting ahead.

And then, a searing flash of white light, followed by silence. He could hear the screams coming from behind him, and the steady march of heavily armored soldiers in front of him. The grizzled shadow of a mountain of a man marched steadily closer, a dark red fluid dripping steadily from his massive sword.

“No… no… it wasn’t… you- you’re supposed to stay out of this!” The Baron howled, and with a quiet *thwish* he fell silently into the night.

image [https://cdn.midjourney.com/95502191-b5b1-4e04-bce1-0a882c01b5fd/grid_0.png]