A guard screamed and the horses neighed with fear, suddenly and violently refusing to take a single step forward and even trying to escape their binds, as a vision slowly made itself clearer in the fog. It was a figure, a human figure, hunching and slowly dragging its feet on the mud as it advanced. It was right in the middle of the way, the torches on the top of the cart soon illuminating its greyish features: strong, huge claws replaced its hands, like the ones on a swamp crab. Its body was covered in this thick, rough exoskeleton, a carapace made out of muddy-looking chitin going from its hips to the top of its head. But worse was its face.
Or better said: the lack of one.
The upper part of the beast’s head looked human enough, even if the skin was pale and greenish and the hair was eternally slimy, one could have mistaken him for a person; but from the nose and down, breaking the jaw into a disfigured open mouth, it all had been completely replaced with a mess of clicking, wriggling appendages: little stabby crab legs permanently reaching into the air and then pushing into a gaping mouth filled with rows upon rows of sharp, needle-like teeth.
It was a Bog Walker, one of the stalking beasts of this part of Normadia, and they never traveled alone.
“Bog body!” Screamed one of the guards, repeating himself. “Quickly, let’s get out of here!”
The driver of the cart agreed with the idea, but his horses were way too scared to coordinate, pulling and kicking around while the creature approached them. He tried reaching for them, calming the beasts with a soft pat on the back, but the fear of a predator standing right in front of their eyes was too intense, too deeply rooted in their brains. It was then that a brave guard rushed forward, their sword shining with the light of the torches as it swung for the creature’s neck.
Only to be swiftly caught by its claw, the carapace too thick to be cut by a simple blade.
“Run!” The other guards screamed, but the courageous soldier did not listen. Pulling from their sword with all the strength they could muster, the guard forced the creature to get close enough for their foot to find its belly. The kick was strong enough to lift the beast slightly from the floor before it fell on its knees, the claw releasing the blade for the slightest of moments.
Enough time for the sword to fly through its neck, cutting through thinner chitin and disgustingly pale flesh. The body jerked in place as blue blood pumped out like a little fountain, falling to the side with a loud thud. A beast, felled.
The valiant guard slowly turned around to face their companions, who were already cheering and raising their arms in triumph… and that’s when the other beasts started to emerge from the mist to their right. Seven, eight, no nine beasts! Clicking and gasping for air as they trudged their way on.
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“There’s more of them!”
Lucrece’s head finally peeked out of the cart, mostly annoyed at the lack of advance, until seeing the dead Bog Walker on their way. Now that was some heartening news, unlike the shadows on the side. More was coming, and now that they were agitated the creatures would turn even faster and stronger than before.
Just as she was thinking that, some of the creatures broke from the trudging pace into a real running start, snarling and raising both thick, heavy claws, already hungry for more violence.
She could have just stayed in the cart, leave it to the guards and beg the creatures were not smart enough to search inside, but the one-eyed girl had something pushing her outside. A drive, an anger, a deep lust for battle… and the hand of one of the passengers, who was not going to risk being found just because of a curious blonde girl.
Said girl stumbled, stepping outside and then rapidly jumping to climb up the cart, just as that same valiant guard rushed head first into battle without a second thought, their blade flying angrily at another creature’s head… only to be easily deflected by one of the beast’s claws. The staggered guard stumbled back and tried to regain their footing, but there was no time for it. Metal bent and screeched as a sharp claw sank into the guard’s chest, and then slashed all the way up to their neck.
“No!”
Lucrece could see firsthand, standing on top of the cart, how red and warm blood sprayed and splattered on the ground, the body falling backward with a violent jerk. The flesh had been carved open all the way from the poor bastard’s ribcage to its collarbone, and blood was already rushing to the now-open canal. All while the creature quickly stuffed that claw in its mouth, suckling the blood, tasting the flesh and iron it had stolen from a fresh body.
The girl could feel her blood boil, hands instinctively finding her halberd and clinging tightly to it for a second. As the creatures encircled the remaining three guards, Lucrece took the time to breathe deeply, caress her blade and try to find a good target. The vermin with the bloodied claws just so happened to turn its back on her, huge mistake.
Her battle cry would echo into the rainy forest, the sharp blade of the halberd sung as the blonde girl jumped and readied it, descending pike first into the creature’s back. It didn’t manage to turn in time to see what was coming.
Cutting through the carapace was very hard, but piercing had turned out to be a very good alternative: the exoskeleton broke so easily under the pressure, body falling straight down under Lucrece’s weight as the girl stabbed once, twice, three more times just to ensure she had gotten the heart.
“Stay down!” She barked, pulling her weapon out and twirling it elegantly to get rid of the blood on her steel, her single eye now focusing on the rest of the pack. “All right boys, stand firm and proud, there’s battle to win today!”
But there was no answer.
Confused, Lucrece turned to look around herself and found not only the cart far, far away, but also the guards running after it.
“Blazing saints, come back here!”
Lucrece felt beyond insulted, but there wasn’t much she could do. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for her: two of the remaining bog walkers, agitated by blood and too hungry to be filled by a lanky girl and an already rotting corpse, decided to chase after the running cart. It was always surprising to see such big, bloated bodies run so fast once they got hungry.
“Fine! Whatever! I don’t need anyone!” The girl lied, clinging to her halberd a bit more tightly. Without the advantage of height or number, this was not looking good. “Let’s dance, you two!”
“...ns’t… finished…”
A voice suddenly gurgled. Lucrece’s body tensed, a shiver running down her spine as she dared to turn around and look at the corpse. It was moving… and not only that, it was talking. The wound on its chest was very slowly bubbling, almost as if the blood itself was boiling and solidifying, healing. The helmet fell off its head, revealing a mane of bright red hair filthy with mud and rainwater.
“A witch…!?”
The blonde girl couldn’t move, fear had taken over as she stared at this corpse raising back up, wounds burning and healing back as a pair of bright, unblinking blue eyes glared at the bog walkers.
With an arm hanging down, and the other firmly holding her sword above her shoulders, Gabrielle repeated herself.
“I wasn’t finished.”