After a week of no reprisal attacks, Norman hoped they might have been in the clear. He was proven wrong only a day later.
Alerted to the attack by the bell – someone in town had erected – Norman jolted out of bed. His sleep-addled mind took a moment to figure out what was going on before he realized it was an attack. It was still dark out but Norman could see the early rays of the sun peaking over the horizon in the distance as he hurried to get dressed.
There was a distant boom that shook the castle and almost knocked Norman off his feet. He could hear faint screams in the distance as well and didn’t know if they were coming from his people or the attackers. He hoped it was the attackers.
As he rushed out of his room, he ran into Grobert. The gron seemed to be wearing some sort of armor but it didn’t look like any type of armor Norman had ever seen before.
Grobert must have seen his curiosity. “Forceweave. It can dissipate most physical attacks. And before you ask, no, I can’t get any for you or the city. It’s gron magitech, and I don’t exactly know how it works. This was mine from when I was President.”
Norman nodded, expecting something like that.
There was another explosion, this one much closer than the last one based on how much the castle shook.
Grobert had to steady Norman and keep him from tipping head-first down the stairs. “Careful, we can’t afford to lose you to something so silly as a broken neck.”
“Oh, so it’s ok if I die in the fighting,” Norman chuckled nervously. It was obvious this attack was far larger in scope than the previous one and Norman couldn’t help worrying.
“Naw, but at least we would at least erect a proper statue of ya if ya did,” Grobert laughed and slapped Norman on the back good-naturedly. “Should probably get your armor on though.”
Norman swore under his breath. In his panic and haste, he had forgotten to activate the armor. He did so now, just as another boom shook the castle. This time Norman heard shattering glass.
“Oy, you fuckers, stop blowing up my building!” Grobert yelled before sprinting down the stairs with murder in his eyes.
Alone and a bit terrified, Norman dug around in his pocket for his spell anchors. He had them all in convenient bags now instead of just haphazardly tossed into his pockets. He really needed to get a belt with pouches. He really didn’t want to call it a utility belt. The first spell anchor he pulled out was just one of his weaker orbs. It was still strong enough to kill a normal human though. Norman scraped away the wax coating before heading down the stairs.
As he made it to the bottom of the steps, he had to duck back as a man in chainmail armor went sailing by. The unfortunate man splattered against the wall at the end of the hallway. But Norman didn’t spare the corpse a second thought as he lobbed his Orb of Decay at a group of three men fighting against Eugene from the direction the body had come flying from.
Norman took note of the five corpses on the ground near Eugene, the man had been doing work on the Radiant Brotherhood attackers, all of which appeared to be unenhanced.
The orb missed the first man but landed at the feet of the second one, exploding in a green mist that coated the unfortunate man’s legs. He went down screaming as his legs melted out from under him.
That gave Eugene enough of an opening to crush the other two attackers. The first he simply hit in the face, caving the man’s skull like a rotten watermelon. While the last man tried to sprint toward Norman while screaming some sort of warcry. Eugene just shot the man in the back, the sound of the desert eagle pistol firing in the confined space was deafening, but it made an unmistakable statement to the remaining short-lived survivors.
“Is this all of them?” Norman looked around at over two dozen dead bodies after Grobert finished off the remaining four.
“The ones that made it inside,” Eugene replied as he wiped a bit of blood off his face. “Seems they lobbed some sort of firebombs into the city to distract us at the front gate. By the time I realized it was a ruse, they had snuck around the unfinished wall and went straight for the castle and you, Boss.”
“They waited until shift change,” Another voice added.
Norman turned toward the unrecognized voice, only now realizing it was Nolix. The man was wielding a bloody short spear with a large crossbar on it. The ratar man had a few wounds that slowly leaked black blood.
“How could they know? Are they watching us?”
“Seems like it,” Eugene spat. “Can’t say from where though. I send out scouts daily to watch for them.”
“Probably a spell,” Grobert replied as he shook the blood from his fist and joined the conversation.
Norman dug into his pocket and tossed a vial of healing potion to Nolix. “Does anyone else need healing?”
The others shook their heads.
“Alright, let's get to the town and see if they need any help.”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The group arrived at a bloody sight. It was clear the first firebomb had struck the gate, blowing it apart and turning anyone unfortunate enough to stand behind it into pincushions.
But that didn’t deter the people of Ashvale. A wall of death greeted the attackers when they finally burst through the broken entrance. Men or more accurately boys – much like those they had encountered after their visit to the desert town – littered the area as broken bodies. The citizens of Ashvale had not been kind to these interlopers.
Norman noticed there wasn’t a single piece of armor or weapon more impressive than a club amongst the dead. Certainly, they had to know these men stood no chance at breaking through the gron greykin.
“Fucking savages!” Eugene growled. “Using boys as fodder while they sneak in. At least have the balls to fight your way in.”
Going by Eugene’s angry outburst, maybe their enemy knew exactly what they were doing.
While Norman agreed that the length these Radiant Brotherhood people were willing to go was sickening, they didn’t appear to be stupid. The cost of their ‘knights,’ as Norman was going to refer to the armored men going forward, would probably annoy them. But he didn’t think it would discourage further attacks. Especially since none of them seemed to have callings.
“Any word from Noorani or her people?” Norman asked Eugene.
“No. I’ll go check in with them after we make sure the city is clear.”
Norman grunted in affirmation at that. He hadn’t wanted to utilize the Priestess or her people in this conflict, but it was inevitable that he would have to involve them at some point. Her people knew the land to the south better than anyone else he had access to and that information could be vital to finding out where their enemy base was at. At least Noorani had warmed up to Eugene and Grobert after the announcement that Norman would be taking charge of the city.
After a house-by-house and street-by-street search to ensure none of the Brotherhood’s goons had hidden within the city, they declared the city safe again. People were already clearing away the dead and making repairs to the front gate. While that was going on, the alchemists were handing out potions for the injured.
Not being needed for those tasks, Norman headed over to the bodies of the greykin. At least ten citizens died in the short but intense fighting. The three killed by the gate exploding were a total loss. Not due to any shrapnel puncturing their heads, but due to the blastwave turning their brains into mush. He didn’t even have to inspect them all that closely to see the grey substance leaking from their ears. Norman had worked with enough corpses at this point to recognize liquified brains by sight alone.
The rest of the dead he was able to get back on their feet within a few hours. They all thanked him profusely before trotting off to help with the cleanup.
Norman sat down and rubbed his face, trying to massage away his tiredness. The adrenaline of the fighting was wearing off and he was exhausted, despite having done hardly anything. He couldn’t even call the attack a loss. There was some damage from the bombs, sure. The gate, two houses, and a whole lot of broken windows, but only three irretrievable dead.
Any general would be happy with the exchange. Three dead for what amounted to almost sixty enemy casualties was an astounding victory in any book. So why did Norman feel so sick about the whole thing?
Just as Norman was about to go spiraling down into darker thoughts, Eugene jogged up to him. “We have a problem.”
“Of course we do.” Norman sighed and stood up while smoothing his hair back. It was still sticky with sweat, even though he had removed his helmet as soon as the city was clear. “Lead the way.”
He hadn’t expected Eugene to lead him to the teleporter. When the duo appeared at the other end, Norman could immediately see the problem. In the distance was dark black smoke curling up from what was once the ooraki village.
“I have four of the Ashvale guards searching the ruins now but I don’t expect to find anything good.”
“I want to see for myself.”
Eugene nodded and led Norman down the thin path toward the village.
The air smelled of burned wood and charred meat. When they arrived outside the small village, all that greeted them was ash and charred tinders. Very little remained of the hut-like dwellings of the ooraki people.
As they walked through the street, Norman’s foot crunched on something. When he stepped back, he found bone peaking out from the ash.
The body was small, almost childlike, but Norman recognized it as one of the ooraki males.
“Report!” Eugene ordered as they met with the guards.
“We’ve located ten bodies so far. Two of them were females.”
“And the Priestess?” Norman asked as he glanced around at the damage.
“We can’t be sure if one of the females isn’t her.”
“They aren’t,” Norman replied confidently. He knew she wouldn’t have gone down without a fight. And there wasn’t any sign of a fight other than the fire.
“We also found tracks,” The guard continued. “They lead north. We believe this attack was perpetrated by the same group that struck Ashvale.”
“Eugene, did you find their siege weapon?”
“No, Boss. They must have it hooked up to a team of those snake horses.”
Norman nodded, looking unsure of what to do before Eugene gently pulled him to the side.
“Boss, word of advice. Even if you don’t know how to proceed, pretend that you do. Your misgivings will translate down to all of those below you. While most people in town see you as a savior, it's best not to give rise to any whispered concerns.”
Norman blinked at the large man, surprised by the advice. “Um- I mean, ok.”
Eugene nodded, letting Norman go. “If you aren’t sure, delegate the task to someone with the necessary skills to handle the problem.”
“…” Norman paused, he was so used to doing everything himself that he forgot that there were others he could call on to assist now. “Ok, how would you handle this situation?”
Eugene’s gaze followed the trail north that the attackers had taken. “Well, we have a perfectly good trail. There’s a good chance these attackers will return via the same route. They obviously don’t know about the teleporter, otherwise, they would have used it. My men and I could set up an ambush.”
“Alright, do it,” Norman replied with authority he didn’t feel.
Eugene snapped off a smart salute, replying louder than he had to for the benefit of the men not privy to their whispered conversation. “Yes, SIR!”
Before Eugene could turn to leave, Norman stopped him. “I want some prisoners, we need answers. Also, take this, it should help with your ambush.” Norman handed Eugene a pouch of Bone Wall spell anchors.
“What do you want to do about the town?”
“Leave it to me, I’ll repurpose the remains and do some more digging.”
“Alright, but I’m not comfortable leaving you here by yourself. I’m going to leave two of the men here with you. Try not to get into any trouble while I’m gone.”
Norman snorted, “I’m pretty sure I can take care of myself.”
“Yeah, so could the priestess, and where is she?”
Norman was a little surprised by the concern in Eugene’s tone. It seemed the man wasn’t taking this attack lightly at all. That was good.
“Alright, send one of the guys back to Ashvale for some extra reinforcements. We have time.”
Eugene nodded, looking happy about the order before snapping his fingers and pointing to one of the guards. “You! Go fetch four more pairs of guards from the city, and be quick about it.”
The man saluted and raced off.