Fei switched between perspectives in quick succession, checking up on each of the gates out of the city one by one as she stared out with beady inhuman eyes. Today was the day the convoy was supposed to leave, and while she wasn't the one watching for movements directly, she did want to check up on the people who were.
Nondescript men had taken up positions at all of the main gates out of the city, posing as street merchants with stalls of goods near the entrances to the city, or beggars hidden away in secluded alleyways. A couple gates even had a city guardsman on Julius's payroll keeping a lookout for their prey today. Because while Fei could theoretically spin herself silly between each of the gates trying to watch them all at once, it was far easier to just supervise others and wait for the warning signs when something happened.
As her gaze stopped at the North gate, it seems she happened to be there when one of the caravans was passing by at just the right time. The merchant girl on the corner plucked up one of her woven red tulip headdresses, putting it on her head to mark the moment as Fei watched.
‘At least that proves that the watchmen know what they’re doing.’ Fei thought.
Regardless, the fact she had caught this caravan as it moved out was a good bit of luck, and Fei took advantage of the chance. She jumped off from the second story windowsill she had been hiding above, falling the fifteen feet or so to the ground only to bounce harmlessly with her lightweight body. When she got her paws back on the ground she scampered over to the road and around the feet of several random pedestrians until she was under one of the carts.
A quick jump, powered by a slight lengthening of her hind bones to make the several foot tall leap even possible, sent her flying up and onto one of the beams under the wooden cart. The soldiers had set up thin tarps on the wooden lattices over the carts, turning them into more weatherproof traveling devices but also making their stored goods just a bit more private. Then again, it likely didn’t even matter as Fei settled into place and locked her sharp claws into the wooden beam below her.
After all, who would think to check for random traveling mice on the bottom of your caravan?
—
Doug sat at the head of his caravan beside the driver's position he had assigned to one of his men that used to lead oxen at his family farm. Edgar was a hard looking fellow with an eyepatch over one eye that gave him a veteran look despite his youthful age. If you asked him about it, he'd tell you he'd lost the eye in a bar brawl, but Doug knew the truth was that a random piece of dust got in his eye and infected it when he was still just a kid. Perhaps that was why the man wore a wide brimmed sun hat on his head while the two sat side by side.
Edgar's blinded eye was facing Doug as the two watched in either direction and settled into the steady silence of the road. Neither man had much to say to the other, and the endless waves of hard packed dirt and dead leaves passed below. It was a good day for traveling, sun out high and doing a fine job of keeping his men from feeling cold as the days started to march into winter. Most of the trees had lost their leaves by this point making it easier to see through the woods as well. It was almost too perfect for guard duty on a job like this.
Even considering this all, Doug was still nervous as he sat there on the moving cart, leading a twenty-five man formation spread out along the line. It was planned meticulously, down to every defensive position, escape plan, and even the route itself. And that was exactly what worried him about it. Dei would be a fool not to attack this target, even with the fact she might lose some of Harrant's men considering the ten crew members he had brought with him into the army garrison.
It had been somewhat strange working as a plant but never really communicating with outside agents. Whenever he needed to pass a message, he would place his jacket on the top of his chest in a certain way until a strange mouse appeared to listen to his stories. The fact that the mice that visited him started evolving over time was only slightly concerning, especially as they tried using different helmets that made them look less and less like real mice, at a certain point they were starting to just look like monsters.
Somewhere along the line as he sat there recounting his daily report to a three inch tall creature that nodded thoughtfully to his words, it had started to feel like a strange fever dream. He was a plant, sure, but it wasn't like he had to go out on clandestine meetings like he had been expecting. Just the day in day out of drills, planning, and patrols around the city. Until now of course.
Doug thought about the copious amounts of gold that his brother had told him they would be guarding that trip. An entire season's worth of wages for the troops from fort Angar to fort Rochar, half the southern border. All of which might have made sense to him, considering they were just making the trip through Princedom controlled land. Might have made sense except for the fact that reports were still coming in about raids all across the western coast. No one knew whether it was the noble families or an unknown rebel group, but Doug had a sneaking suspicion it was related to his patron.
They'd moved on from attacking flax fields, to now burning their way through the wheat fields in the area, all of which seemed rather strange. The wheat attacks could be useful if they were trying to starve the people, but why start with flax of all things? Harrant continued to ponder the weekly reports as the carts trundled along through the day.
Woods passed by, turning into fields of endless soon to be harvested crops, then back into woodlands once again as the landscape changed around them over time. The ground was hard and littered with leaves in every direction, making the entire journey seem like some strange passage through a multicolored land instead of the usual green hills. This section in particular had some inordinately large piles of leaves too, as the surrounding ground level seemed to buck and wave with the swells of red, yellow, and orange.
Then he started to realize the leaf piles were actually moving.
Harrant pulled a whistle up from a string around his chest, blowing hard into the contraption to let the rest of the convoy know that they were under attack. Even as he moved however, a large group of skeletal creatures rose from the leaves in a wide semi circle around the front of the convoy. Within seconds he could tell there were dozens of the creatures just within eyesight of the front cart as their numbers had wrapped around the entirety of his formation. They were outnumbered at least three to one, if not four to one, and he felt those numbers start to take effect as they began running towards the convoy.
There was nothing subtle about the skeletal attackers as their heavy armor and lumbering steps caused a cacophony of sound on the otherwise quiet road. The convoy had already come to a halt, deciding to fight in place instead of a moving retreat so that there was less risk to the horses, and his men dismounted to form small groups around the scared beasts as the skeletons approached.
“What the fuck are those things?” A soldier yelled. But most of the men seemed to have been expecting something like this. There had been rumors of strange things in the night recently, but no one had seen anything like this before. When a hundred half rotted skulls were currently barreling down on the group, they could ask questions later.
A couple of men shot off their short bows into the skeletal ranks, though the arrows did little of note other than get stuck in their armor. Then a metallic bo staff shot out from the formation towards the skeletons, and caught a pair of them at the waist line sending them flying backwards in a tumble. The bo staff lurched in mid air, changing direction, and flying back towards the convoy before arcing out once more like a twirling strike from thirty paces away.
This second attack knocked down another three skeletons, though the first pair that had fallen were already starting to stand back up. The rest of the group was starting to get close however, and Doug focused on his own fight as they stumbled into range. Taking a cue from the force mages work with the bo staff, he called over his shoulder at his men to focus on blunt attacks. After all, the arrows they had used earlier certainly didn't seem to help accomplish anything.
The skeletons slammed into Doug and Edgar as the two locked shoulders and raised their shields against the oncoming force. Doug felt all of the weight of a couple grown men push against his shield in that brief moment of first contact as the monsters practically ran into the shieldwall head first. A sword tried to arc out around the shield from the skeleton on his right, but he angled his sword upward to catch the blow, then slid his sword down and below his own shield to cut through a bony leg. The creature dropped to the ground immediately, but Doug was too busy trying to make sure the skeletons didn't get around the two of them as they tried to put their backs to the cart behind them and get some cover.
The action left the horses uncovered, which the skeletons quickly carved through in a blur of high pitched horse screams and toppling mounds of flesh that crushed a skeleton underneath them. But as another eight individual bone men surrounded the pair there wasn't much of an opportunity to try and think about anyone but themselves.
Edgar managed to cleave through an arm as it struck at Doug's shield, while Doug kicked away at the skeleton he had sent to the ground as it crawled towards him. The firm kick of his boot left his toes screaming in agony, but the skeleton looked like it was struggling to get up again as its head started to cave inward from the blow. In between heavy attacks from the surrounding figures, Doug eyed the torn away skeletal sword arm laying on the ground, just in case it had the ability to do anything, but when it stopped moving a second later he decided that was that.
Less than ten seconds had passed, yet his shield arm and shoulder already felt like a led weight on his body as the skeletal figures continued to merely pound on his defenses. There was no agility in their blows, no deftness, nor training. Just the sheer onslaught of attrition and an enemy that probably knew it could merely hammer away at the shield wall until it collapsed and revealed the prize.
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“Just gotta hold out.” Doug said between blows.
“Hraaagh!” Edgar punched out with his shield, stunning an exposed skeleton straight in the head, then ate another attack from the skeleton to his side with a block from his sword.
If there hadn't been much talking before, there were even less now as the sounds of ringing metal and chipping wood echoed as skeletal swords swung at their wooden shields. Doug tilted his head back sharply, readjusting the imperfectly fitted skull cap that he had received less than a couple weeks ago, and a skeleton used the opportunity to get a grazing hit through his guard. The strike landed on his right shoulder with enough force that it left a nasty dent in his green shoulder guard, and caused enough of a shock that he almost dropped his sword. The skeleton had extended itself too much into his guard as it stepped forward with the attack, so Doug swung over his shield in a horizontal blow that blasted its head off its shoulders at the crease of the neck.
The body slumped to the ground and didn't move. Doug almost celebrated taking down one more enemy when he had to raise his sword arm sharply to stop another blow from the skeletal body that stepped into the place of the one he had just taken care of. The odds were improving, but his entire body ached from the defensive action as the blows just didn't stop.
He had to keep fighting. Had to keep holding up the right side of their duo. Because if he ever went down, Edgar probably wouldn't even see him fall in time to try defending his right side. Not like he was paying very much attention to Edgar's fight either as he chanced a quick glance over and saw a handful of broken limbs scattered around the floor. Not bad.
One of the skeletons tried ducking under the cart to get behind them, but Doug sent an upward slash into its hip that only had a chance of landing because the creatures seemed to have no sense of self defense. It spun backwards, nearly toppling into another monster behind it as the blow spun its body out and away. Just enough to give Doug some space, and buy him another second or two of mind numbing attacks on his left shield arm.
Behind the pack attacking him he saw a handful of skeletons flying away from the caravan to land in a heap of bones twenty paces away from the carts. It gave him hope.
“Bide. Time.” He got out in between the shocking blows raining down on him, straining every inch of his body with the force they flung at him like children. A skeleton was trying to go underneath the cart again, and this time it wasn't close enough for him to take an easy shot at it. There were still two skeletons distracting him with their constant attacks, and Edgar seemed like he was dealing with the same thing, so neither of them was in a position to move.
His teeth gritted against the pain. Everything screamed at him. Every inch of his body wanted to just give up and take a break. But every time a blow came at him he found just enough effort to shift his half broken shield into the right position, or slap away the attack just enough to last another second.
The skeleton that was trying to sneak into their blind spot suddenly lurched away from the cart, pulled towards the rear of the caravan then suddenly thrust forward into the bodies of the other skeletons attacking Doug and Edgar. It crashed into its buddies with a sickening crunch, during which Doug happily threw a haymaker sword swing into their sides as the bodies bunched up into each other, breaking a few bones of his own. The bodies slowed down considerably as they started piling up, and the human duo seemed to act in unison as they both punched forward with their swords into the tangled mess of bone and armor. The skeletons toppled backward as they lost their footing and fell as a group onto the ground in a confused ball of thrashing limbs stuck in each other's way.
Doug took a look to his right as a lone man with a sweat beaded face and a bo staff in his hands stood in between the carts down the line. As the skeletons fell to the ground, they stopped pushing away from the mage, and the cart behind the man fell back to the ground as though an equal weight had been pushing it up and into the air. The man grunted as he let go of his push, then nodded towards Doug as they went their separate ways. Edgar had refocused on the fallen skeletons, sending his own sword in hammering strikes on their conjoined bodies, hacking away at the white mess bit by bit, and Doug happily joined in.
Though they were tired, the skeletons were no match for the two now that their numbers had waned and they lay prone on the ground. The two continued to crush through the bodies bit by bit until the pile stopped moving of its own free will.
His own fight taken care of, Doug started jogging heavy, tired steps around the front of the caravan to the other side. If they could just link up with the men on the left flank, perhaps he could help. As he turned the corner he found a singular skeleton left standing as it faced off with one of Harrant's own men, Collin.
As he jogged up behind the two Collin sent a well timed sideward slash at the skeleton, but it moved with more grace than Doug had seen from any of the creatures up until that point, twisting its own sword around Collin's and sending it up and into the air. The creature then made its own sword arc downward towards the man's exposed neck, causing him to twist in place and get his shield high enough to stop the blow. The shield made it in time, but then the skeleton stepped forward, twisted its hips, and sent a heavy uppercut straight into the man's stomach.
Harrant noticed an orange glow reflecting off the side of the shield with the attack, and his footsteps faltered as he continued watching. There were two men left prone by Collins feet, thankfully not yet killed by the beast, though Doug was starting to convince himself that the skeleton had done that on purpose. When the twin pair of orange eyes turned to look at him, blazing visibly despite the late day sun, Doug hastily decided that he would rather fight any other skeleton than this one.
The pair met eyes for only a split second before the creature was suddenly yanked away from Harrant, sent flying through the air by an unseen force. Doug used the chance to run up to Collin and catch him before the man fell to the ground, though he kept one eye focused on the fight that was about to begin.
Xei tumbled to the ground in a backwards roll less than ten paces away from the force mage, deftly turning his body in place until he was able to roll to his feet without getting too caught up in the motion. The man facing him merely held out his staff horizontally and pushed on the weapon, sending it whistling into Xei's midsection and pushing him back fifteen paces before stopping. The bo staff's momentum ended so suddenly that it left Xei sailing through the air another five paces before his feet met the ground, tearing through the soft earth as he somehow maintained his footing.
Even as the mage pulled the staff back inward, Xei started to charge at the man, sword held in an underhand stance as he closed the distance. The staff shot back out, spinning somewhat wildly about its axis as the mage hadn't had a chance to catch it before he sent out this next attack to keep Xei at bay. The Skeleton had expected this however and swung upward with his sword at the last minute into the spinning side of the staff, stopping its momentum as the mage was suddenly blasted off of his feet and into the side of the wooden cart.
The man bounced off the cart and onto his hands and knees as Xei continued his assault, closing the distance with disturbing speed as he left the staff behind him. The mage lifted his head at the skeleton’s approach, raising a single hand that might have been an appeal for mercy or…
The staff shot towards the mage from behind Xei, catching the skeleton by the back of the knees and tripping him up as the weapon pulled his feet out from under him. The mage caught the staff in his hand a second later, then pushed downward, rocketing his body up and into the air directly over Xei, then pushed downward again directly over the skeleton.
Xei's body looked like it had been planted into the dirt at this point, every arm and leg of his body crushed into the ground but not yet broken from the weight as an orange glow overtook his limbs. The mage didn't waste time however and pointed the tip of his staff downward at the creature before releasing it. A ballista couldn't have shot the metal staff forward any faster than the mage did in that moment, releasing the equivalent of a supersized metal bolt straight at the skeleton. The motion seemed to release Xei from the ground, as he raised up a hand towards the staff.
His hand did nothing to protect him as the bolt blasted through it and his outstretched arm as well, only to land straight on the creature’s head. A blinding flash of orange light poured out from the connection, and Harrant could actually hear the mage guffaw high up in the air as his body suddenly wrenched upward like he'd been punched in mid air. A tense moment later though, the light died out and the metal pole slid down through the forehead of the skeleton, pinning it to the ground.
Harrant watched as the orange eyes dulled considerably in time with the mage's hasty descent from the sky. The force mage landed heavily on Xei's lower ribs and spine, easily smashing through the bones as the man collapsed to his knees after the fall to kneel over the body as he gathered himself. The skeleton didn't move, and Doug was having trouble even telling whether there was any orange glow in the skull's eyes anymore. The mage looked up at him, smiling as he clutched at his own ribs like he'd been punched through the sky.
Doug smiled back at the mad man, not even sure which side he wanted to really win as he continued to help up the surrounding men from their own battle with Xei. Then a strange orange light spread over the mages face as he started to look down on the skeleton.
A single white arm reached up before anyone could realize what was happening and grasped the mage by the throat, wrapping long spindly fingers around the man's entire neck. The mage panicked, and pushed away at the ground as fast as he could, but the skeleton held on tight to his head, forcing the mage upside down as only the lower half of his body moved upward. Xei's second arm reached up to grasp the mage by the throat, then orange light leaked from the two hands as he squeezed through the soft flesh like he was crushing an apple. Something snapped in the mage, his head suddenly jolting out of its already awkward position, and the rest of the body fell to the ground on top of Xei.
The skeleton released his hands as the glow left his eyes, both arms dropping to the ground as the mage's head fell into the dirt beside him. Then Doug saw a matching pair of orange eyes appear from another skeleton further down the line that was still fighting the other men. He knelt there, dumbfounded as the orange menace seemed to immediately empower the new body, growing in both speed and experience to upend the tentative balance of power wherever he fought.
Harrant reached down for his whistle then blew one long note, followed by two shorter ones. He looked down the line, waiting for precious moments as Xei made quick work of his soldiers, knocking them out one after the other before a matching whistle blew from the back of the formation. His head perked up, realizing the chance they still must have had at that moment, and he finished picking up the man that Xei had just downed less than fifteen seconds before. They in turn picked up the other two men, one of which had broken his leg in the exchange, and started gathering near the front of the convoy.
A single cart was moving up the right side of the formation, the side that thankfully didn't have Xei standing on it, as a group of four men clung to the sides of the cart and ushered the terrified horses forward. They barely slowed as Doug, Edgar, Collin, and the rest of the first cart leapt aboard as the horses passed, the uninjured helping drag anyone hurt inside. At the end of the day, eleven men ended up surviving the attack in the runaway cart, and Doug counted all his blessings that it was even that many.
How oddly convenient that most the men in the first and last carts had survived the encounter. The two carts that just so happened to be manned by Doug's own sell-swords.
At least the goddess hadn't truly abandoned her followers.
The lone carriage sped down the open roadway as fast as they could, allowing the screams of dying men to fade out behind them.