A screamer lept at Appo, its rotten limbs outstretched. He hadn't expected them to move so fast. He closed his eyes, hoping the screamer at least finished him quickly.
Before it would get the chance, Adok stepped in front of Appo, swinging a scimitar straight into the chest. The screamer released a high-pitched gasp before collapsing to the ground, taking the scimitar with it. Adok waited a moment for it to stop squirming before he reached over, trying with all his might to pull it out. The scimitar refused to budge, firmly lodged between the screamer’s ribs.
“Leave it!” Jere shouted from behind them all. Appo and Adok looked ahead. More screamers poured through the gates, and at least a dozen had already made their way through the courtyard. The sounds of screamers and Ashfolk alike bounced off the walls, clawing and scratching at each other. A few of the Corps rallied briefly, but the growing swarm quickly overwhelmed them.
Appo looked around. They couldn't stay here, at least in the courtyard. To his right, he saw a flight of wooden steps leading up the wall. Some had already fled there, cowering on the top of the walls. “There!” he shouted, and Adok and Appo ran towards it.
Before they even crossed half the courtyard, the right corner of the Manor gate erupted in the largest explosion yet. The shockwave leveled everyone still standing, and shrapnel once again flung through the courtyard. Appo saw the stairway obliterate, barely catching the bodies as they flung through the air.
Appo once again pushed himself off the ground, his strength nearly spent. He looked back at the crowd. He saw the fallen screamers scrambling on the ground towards the other Ashfolk. Appo saw veins stripped open and bellies split.
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But they were in luck. The firestorm of the most recent explosion had swirled into a tornado of flame, halting any new screamers from rushing in. The ones left in the courtyard became preoccupied with their already claimed victims.
The only exception was three screamers chewing on a guard only a few meters away. One by one, they spotted Appo and Adok, screeching as they caught their eye.
Appo rushed to Adok, pulling him up as the screamers lumbered towards them in a haze. But before they could close in, Jere rushed aside, brandishing a large spear he pulled off the weapons rack behind them. “Back up,” Jere said as he swung the spear from side to side.
Jere’s first strike landed in a screamer’s knee, knocking him to the ground. His next sliced into the neck of another, and a gush of blood erupted from its jugular. Jere then thrust the spear into the chest of the middle, its chest folding around the spearhead. Jere pulled out the spear just in time to swing it towards the screamer with the bloody neck, knocking it to the ground. He did the same to the screamer on his right, slamming the side of the spearhead across its head. As it twisted back to the ground, Jere drove the spear into the screamer’s back, lodging firmly within. He tugged twice, unable to pull it out as the last screamer got to her feet.
Appo, who stood aside as Jere struggled, jumped between him and the screamer. He smashed his forearms together, and his gauntlet blade ejected with a twang. He held it out towards the screamer, hoping it would charge into the blade before it released any errant swipes.
As the last screamer closed the distance, two bolts lodged themselves in the screamer’s right chest. The screamer fell with barely a gasp.
Jere gave a hearty last tug and pulled out his spear. He turned around, finding the dead screamer on its side. He walked up to Appo, panting.
“Huh,” Jere said. “Good kill.”
Before Appo could correct him, a whistle blew from the Manor proper. From the second-story window sat Eevi, her crossbow aimed at the dead body. She grinned at the sight of the kill.
“Move your asses!” she yelled, beckoning them over.