Chapter 9: Good Offense

The wall of the barn exploded outward in a hail of rubble.

I’d installed a circuit with a deliberate fault, insulating it from the ground, and then Electra did the rest. I covered my eyes with one hand as the last burst of lightning arced out, lighting up the night for a brief instant. It showed me the fear and terror in my enemies’ eyes.

I knew I could leave it up to her.

Then the darkness came. Before, the half moon above would have been more than enough to see by. Now they were half blind, but my demons shared no such limitation.

“Go!”

With a chittering screech, the hobblefiends darted forward in a wave. A man screamed. I saw a flash of light as a woman tried to use a skill, before she was smothered, swarmed under by a pack of demons with sharp fangs and wicked claws.

I heard her body hit the ground with a wet splat. A mace came down on the demons swarming over her. But there were always more.

“It’s a trap!”

I grinned. “Light us up!” I loved it when a plan came together.

In the loft, still supported by pillars detached from the wall, Electra shouted, “Buzzer bolt!” A lance of lightning hit a pile of hay soaked in pitch. It lit, and a circle of fire raced around the farm. It lit up our foes, half of them still with weapons in their sheaths. I’d prepared my battlefield well.

My soldiers knew the plan. With a battle cry, I raced forward. I fired an inky black demon-itize forward, catching a surprised mercenary. He exploded, and a new demon bounded into the fray. Meanwhile, the kill notifications continued to roll in as my Hobblefiends pulled the bandits down through sheer weight of numbers.

Then the first group of soldiers hit them like a shit ton of bricks.

They broke.

A screaming man was the first. I caught sight of his back as he barreled through the flames and I lost sight of him, but once someone turned tail, the rest were only a few seconds behind. In moments, the entire raid disintegrated. I caught sight of a woman throwing her spear towards the flames, a patch of ice flash-freezing the pitch and hay beneath.

Most just braved the flames, rolling frantically on the ground on the other side before sprinting into the woods.

I walked forward from the ruins of the barn. “Check for survivors.”

“Got one here, Lady!”

I turned, catching sight of two men, spears in hand, pinning a pale woman to the ground. She glared at me from beneath her fringe.

“Excellent. Take her weapons and get her back to the town. Make sure she’s under guard constantly.”

“Yes, my lady!” The man thumped his fist into his chest before he and his cohort hauled the woman up and stripped the bow from unresisting fingers. I surveyed the rest of the battlefield as two more mercenaries turned bandits were recovered and given the same treatment.

Electra jumped down, landing next to me with a thump. “Not a bad haul.”

I nudged her. “Still not a fan of the bodies, huh?”

She winced, looking away from the…remains of a man who’d met just one too many hobblefiends. “It’s…a bit much.”

I shrugged, dismissing the remaining demons with a wave of my hand. “I don’t start fights, Lectra.”

“I know, I know.” She ran a hand through her hair. “You end them. Still frickin’ sucks.”

I placed my hands on my hips, letting the heat from the fire soak into the black folds of my cloak. It was already starting to sputter; really, it had been more for the shock value than anything else. “I know, but put on your game face for the kids. This was their first scrap, and they did well.”

“For you, maybe.”

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I patted her on the shoulder. “I’m not the one who trained them.”

She shot a quick look in my direction before going around to congratulate the rest of the soldiers. I spent a few more minutes glad handing as well—I may not have been a corporate hero, but I knew how to play a crowd—before I heard the sound of hoofbeats.

Two men rode into the farm from the town just as the ring of fire sputtered out.

“Lady Empress!”

I waved them down. Heh, Lady Empress. Now that a bit egotistical, if I did say so myself.

“We saw the signal fire.” The first man dropped from his horse’s saddle, dipping into a rough bow. “Seems like you handled it well.”

I nodded, smirking. “And without a drop of blood spilled on our side.”

A cheer went up from the crowd, and the man in front of me cracked a smile. He was older, from one of the nearby villages, with orange hair going auburn and grey. “That’s good to hear, my lady.”

“Ready to go then, Wulgar?”

He gave a sharp grin. “Caught a bit of sleep before coming out. I’ll be ready to go all night, if you need, My Lady.”

I just cocked an eyebrow at him. “I’m sure your wife will be happy to hear it.”

He just smiled wider, joining the answering laughter. I waved my hand, and a gryphon formed from the ether at my side.

It was a newer demon, bigger than a horse, and with a striped coat, instead of the normal lion pelt you usually saw in mythology. Still had the head of an eagle and a wicked beak though.

It was also, of course, too tall for me to mount unassisted.

I pointed at the ground next to the demon. “Since I have your tireless aid, Wulgar…”

He gave another good natured chuckle, before half-crouching and making a step with his hands. I swung myself up onto the gryphon’s back, and it ruffled its wings.

“Eager to hunt, huh?” I stroked its feathered ruff as the beast squawked in agreement. With a ‘hyup’, Wulgar vaulted up into the saddle behind me.

I waved. “Now, let’s go see just where our enemies are hiding.”

A loud whoop went up from the rest of my men, along with a smattering of ‘good luck’ and ‘hunt ‘em down’s. I kicked my heels into the gryphon’s sides—more for show, but I’d always wanted to do that—and we rushed off into the sky.

I took a few moments to let my gryphon gain height, circling the farm. Then, once we were high enough that the air started to nip at my fingers, I banked towards the jungle.

It still caught me by surprise, sometimes, to realize that the Republic of Vecorvia was a tropical island. The jungles were thick and lush green, and they’d had to clear-cut roads from city to city. It was part of what made our port so valuable.

Of course, at this time of night, the only thing I could make out was a blanket of pure blackness, the lights of my town sparkling dimly behind us. Luckily, I wasn’t alone.

“What do you see?” I had to shout to be heard over the wind, but Wulgar was already leaning forward, eyes glimmering green as he used his skill .

After a moment, he pointed. “There.” I banked the Gryphon in that direction, taking us deeper over the jungle. “Seems like they grouped back up, lots of movement.”

“How can you see them through the canopy?”

“Breaks.” His eyes narrowed. “And I can see the evidence of their passing. Trees are smaller here, but they still shake.”

I chuckled. “Good old fashioned experience, then.”

He nodded. “Looks like they’re headed towards the river, bank left.”

I angled that direction. “How will I know when I’m over it?”

“You’ll see the moon reflected on the surface.”

Sure enough, I did, a pale half-circle rippling like a pen light down below. I started to circle, following his directions as the routed bandits slowly made their way down the river in the dark. It would have been easy to swoop down on them. If my memory served correctly, only five or six got away in the end.

Of course, that wasn’t my goal tonight.

It was slow going. Certainly made sense—we were waiting for a group of demoralized mercenaries to lug their asses through the jungle at night—but even still, the moon was starting to set by the time they reached their campsite.

“Found them.” Wulgar’s voice was quiet as he pointed up ahead. I directed our ride to glide lower. If I squinted hard, I could just make out what might have been a clearing in the trees. And here I’d thought I had excellent night vision.

But hey, what’s the point of being the boss if you can’t have your minions do the hard part for you?

“What do we have?”

Wulgar paused for a moment, sucking his lip. “Only a few tents. I see a single firepit. Tracks, maybe, going deeper into the trees.”

“And tracks don’t make the trees rustle, do they.”

He shook his head.

“They must be spread out some.” I bit my thumb. “It makes sense. Would be hard to keep everyone in the same place; not enough hunting, or water.”

Wulgar shook his head. “Not that, it’s the monsters.” He looked at me, dead serious expression on his face. “They come out of the deep jungle at night.”

I raised an eyebrow. Sure, I remember that night a big monster chased Rel and I back to Silverwall, but, “Wouldn’t it make more sense to keep everyone together, then?”

Wulgar just shook his head. “Big monsters in the deep,” he said. “Make too much noise, and they think maybe it’s a meal worth their time.”

I blinked. “So the ones that come near cities?”

“Too small to run with the deep jungle packs.”

I hummed. Maybe I’d been a bit…luckier with my jungle expeditions than I thought.

I glanced back towards the river. “What are the odds they make it through the night unscathed?”

“Oh there’s already something sniffing around their trail.” Wulgar pointed farther into the darkness. “But it doesn’t look that big. If they’ve lasted this long, they’ll be able to ride out one more monster.”

“Well then.” With a mental nudge, we banked back towards my town. From this height, I could even make out a glimmer of electric lighting on the horizon. “Let’s make sure we have a nice surprise waiting for them in the morning. You’ll be able to make your way back there?”

He grinned, teeth flashing white in the moonlight. “Just follow the river. Easiest trick in the book.”

I grinned in reply. “Excellent.” Then I leaned over the neck of my Gryphon and let the lights mark my way home.