Making our way back to the rest of the army was no easy task. At least at first. The vast majority of all trees had been knocked over or outright turned into so much splintered wood. The few who still stood, thanks to one miracle or another, had lost most of their branches and leaves. The whole mess now covered the ground all around us. It made for uneasy footing in the best case and outright blocked our way quite a few times, forcing us to take detours. That we were all still a little unsteady on our feet didn't exactly help either.

Even making sure that no one was left behind in a collapsed foxhole in the beginning had been a chore. At least we had been rewarded with the knowledge that we lost no one at our position. I could only hope the same was true for the scouts and rangers as well. We couldn't exactly go looking for them either. We kept our ears open for any calls of distress, that much was a given, but actually searching for anyone who couldn't make their presence known was beyond our abilities right now.

We did call out at regular intervals though as we made our way back to the impromptu camp. We would not lose anyone for lack of trying. Thankfully it got a little easier once we crested the hill to descend on the other side. The Meteor Strike had wreaked havoc here too but it was not quite as bad on the lee side of the hill. It got better the further away we got from the impact site as well. That of course did not mean that we had an easy time descending towards the encamped army. At the same time the smell of smoke gave our descent a sense of urgency.

I really didn't want to get caught out here in the woods once the fires had some time to spread. I hoped no one else would suffer that fate either. No one still alive anyway. Whatever ghouls where still shambling through the woods could burn and burn good, for all I cared. A cry that spoke as much of pure unadulterated hatred as pain had us halt. I had never heard a wyvern make a sound like that but it was unmistakable one of these beasts keening like that. I raised my weapon, readied my shield and signaled the others to stay back.

I didn't have to search long to find the wretched creature. It had been knocked out of the sky, much like I had expected, and by the looks of it, it hadn't had a gentle landing either. That it was still alive was a small miracle, although an unpleasant one. Its wings were shredded and the wing bones, the sturdy wing bones like the one I used as a shaft for my weapon, were broken and mangled. Its tail trashed about helplessly as its neck was trapped not under one but two massive, fallen trees.

It wasn't dead yet though and thus still posed a threat. The latter became quickly apparent as it noticed my approach. It might have been broken and trapped but it was not entirely helpless. Its tail whipped around, the deadly stinger tearing a furrow into the ground a few paces off to my side. I circled around the trashing beast, staying well away from the stinger. Curiously enough the wyverns maw with its many terrifying teeth offered the safest approach as it couldn't quite bring its stinger to bear here. It tried to snap at me and as that failed it hissed, sending bloody spittle flying my way.

I covered my face with my shield as even that stuff was poisonous. I considered amplifying my abilities with spells but the raging headache plaguing me suggested that it would not be a good idea to work any magic right now. Thus I brought only my own considerable strength to bear as I rammed the tip of my weapon into the beats maw as it hissed at me impotently. For a moment even more blood got spit in my direction as I had pierced its tongue. Then, I had barely withdrawn my weapon, the wyvern started trashing and convulsing. After that it didn't take long for it to fall still.

I sighed in relief and shook as much poisonous blood and spittle of my weapon and my shield. I'd have to thoroughly clean them later but for now it would have to do. I turned in the direction where the others waited at a safe distance. “Lets move on. Give it a wide berth though, just in case.” I doubted that it was just playing dead but I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks in that regard either.

After that brief encounter it took us almost another hour to get out of the woods onto the open terrain where the rest of the army had dug in along the road. The men and women and especially the mounts and beasts of burden were visibly shaken. There were signs that some of the draft animals might have tried to break out of their makeshift enclosure but overall everything seemed to be well in hand as far as I could tell. The gryphons still looked a little shaken though. I breathed another sigh of relief as a cheer went up among the guards as they spotted us leaving the demolished treeline behind us.

My steps lightened a little as I approached the camp. It was Quu'za who came running to greet us. It looked like she wanted to tackle and hug me but I warded her off quickly. “Careful! I still have poisonous wyvern blood all over me.”

She nodded and took a quick round of our group, checking on everyone else. Then she came around back to me. “I'll get you some water to wash it off! That was some spell! Not only do you kill the boogeymen of their myths and legends, you shake the earth and sunder the sky!” She seemed pretty excited about the whole affair.

I looked back over my shoulder and shuddered. The mushroom shaped cloud was still impossible to miss. I winced as I realized that all that stuff would eventually come back down again. Well, that was a problem for another day. Now I had more urgent business to take car of.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

We followed the leader of the harpies into the camp to meet up with the other officers. “Everyone! We will hunker down here, probably for a day or two. Use water sparingly wherever you can. It might be a while before we can find a clean well or creek around here. Prepare for a dust storm or ash fall as well.” I pointed at the tall mushroom cloud for emphasis. “Secure the camp. Get firewood from the smashed forests before the spreading fires get it all. Look out for wandering ghouls though. There might still be some of them about. Keep your eyes and ears open for the scouts who were still out there as well.”

I took a deep breath before continuing. “Get the gryphons in the air again as soon as you can. We need better intelligence. In the meantime I'll take the infantry and the cavalry around the hill. The city of Gothol'uin might be nothing more than a fiery hole in the ground but there could still be ghouls about. We will start moping them up. Expect us to return just before nightfall. Questions? Suggestions?”

It looked like Kaele wanted to protest but in the end she was in no shape to do so. She was leaning heavily against Tero who looked barely any better himself. The spell had taken its toll on me but these two looked much worse off. I pointed Quu'za in their direction. “Have the healers look these two over, no matter how much they protest and them get them tucked in. I need them back on their feet and well rested.”

Since no one else had anything to add I got going. I raised my voice to make myself heard beyond the gathered officers. “Infantry! Cavalry! Form up outside the encampment! We have ground to cover and rotten heads to smash! Move it! We are wasting daylight!” A hearty cheer was my answer as I left the camp behind again, flanked only by a handful of harpies. Not the ones who had been out there, with us as we cast the Meteor Strike but ones who had sheltered here with the rest of the army. They were well rested and eager to go.

It didn't take long for the infantry to form up along the road outside the camp and before long the cavalry had formed two detachments to flank us as well. I took a position at the front and as everyone was in position I raised my glaive and called out. “We move out!”

Even as I spoke I got going. I set a brisk pace. We had some ground to cover after all. Even at the pace I chose it would probably take us a little more than an hour to get around the hill and out into the plain where the city had stood. It would probably take us a little longer to get back. I expected that we would still have to smash plenty of ghoul heads after all. It would be bloody work. It would be tedious work.

But unless the ghoul king had somehow survived a strike powerful enough to turn a city into a glowing crater, probably more than a thousand paces across, it would not be as bad as the battle we had recently fought against the shambling dead. They simply were not the same kind of threat without a higher intelligence to guide them.

We marched in silence for a while. That lasted until we finally came around the hill. My men and women had seen the cloud rising over the place where the meteor had struck. They had felt the earth shake and quake as a wind like nothing else had smashed much of the surrounding forests flat. But now they could see the destruction itself. Some stared in awe. Others whispered. It was understandable. Not even the storm during the battle at the gap had left an, quite literal, impression like this after all.

There really wasn't anything recognizable as a city left. The hill with the castle and the wyvern nests at the city's heart? Gone! The city, the houses and even the walls surrounding them? Gone! The moat and the trenches and earth walls beyond it? Those were gone for the better part as well. Only the defense lines that had been the furthest out were still recognizable in any way and even they had suffered.

The trenches had collapsed and so had the earth walls. The latter often filling the former back in. There still where ghouls milling about aimlessly though, much like I had expected. It looked like most of them had been blown hundreds of paces away from the center of the explosion as well though. Considering how the wind had still been strong enough to knock over most trees quite a distance away it sounded entirely plausible. Had they still been alive that alone probably would have been enough to kill them.

As we closed in some of them took notice of us. They started moving our way but there was no organization at all. It probably was only the primal instinct to consume the flesh of the living that drove them. We spread out from our marching formation to welcome them with the steel in our hands.

I raised my voice again, without amplifying it with magic though. It didn't matter though. The sergeants would make sure everyone knew what they had to know. “Aim for the heads if you can! Dismember them if you can't! Someone else will take care of the head then. Keep your eyes open and watch out for the men and women at your side as well! Watch your feet as well when we get closer to the collapsed trenches! Smash them! And most importantly, don't get yourself killed!”

I banged my weapon against my shield and we started to move as one, weapons at the ready. This wouldn't be a real battle. This would be a cleanup operation. There was no fame and glory to be found here but what we were about to do still needed doing. Every ghoul we properly put to rest again would not trouble us in the days to come.

With my lips forming a thin line I lashed out with my glaive as the first ghoul came into range. The weapon made its head burst like some kind of overripe fruit. It was the first but it wouldn't be the last for quite some time. And all around me others made short work of the shamblers as well.