Clay revised his hopes a while later, as they approached the first of the towers he wanted to attack that day.
It was yet another crude place built on top of a hill. The four he’d destroyed the day before were some distance off to the west, so he’d hoped that this place wasn’t quite as alert to the incoming dangers. With some good fortune and a hint of cloud cover, they might have escaped notice until they were halfway up the hill.
Olivia didn’t bother waiting, however. The moment they arrived, she stepped out into the dead terrain and started climbing the slope, her expression set and her eyes fixed on the monster’s den at the top. Her scythe was at her shoulder as she walked, the blade swaying with her stride.
Clay ran forward to catch up to her, but when he reached her, Olivia just glanced at him. Her eyes were like bitter emeralds. “Don’t you have a [Chant] to complete? Just leave me enough to fight.”
He paused and then grimaced, before starting the Canon of Rock. Above, the shriekers were already raising the alarm; he could see swinefolk moving around inside the crude tower, ready to send magic and rubble down on them. Clay tried to picture Olivia dodging all of the projectiles and set himself in front of her. Better to knock it aside than to have her get hurt.
Behind him, Olivia had come to a stop. She’d also started her own [Chant], something that sounded like Pursuing Leap. He glanced back at her and saw that she had her sling out. She was spinning it underhand, a focused look on her face.
He had just enough time to appreciate the brilliance of her plan before the first rain of rubble came crashing down the hill. Clay grimaced, watching the rocks tumble down towards them. They wouldn’t reach Olivia before she was done, but he would have to dodge his way up the hill again. Unwilling to lose track of the Canon at this point, he wove his way up the slope. It took a supreme effort not to look back at Olivia as the debris rushed past him on its way to the bottom.
Then he saw a stone rise into the air, followed closely by Olivia herself. As the stone curved over and down, falling back towards the top of the hill, he saw her own trajectory change. He shook his head as she hit the side of the hill and rolled, coming back to her feet more or less on the top of the slope. The swinefolk howled and shrieked as they realized she was already past their first line of defenses.
He saw them try to throw more rocks at her, and she dodged back and forth. Clay also saw the windows of the tower begin to shine with the twisted light of eater magic, and realized that she was about to be in far more danger.
Fortunately, the Canon finished in that moment, lent speed both by his own urgency and the bonuses from [Swinebane]. He focused on the top of the tower as he ran, wanting to make sure that he didn’t let the eaters get their magic off. Then he unleashed the boulder, sending it flying.
It took him a second to realize that it was flying faster than before. Much faster, with enough force behind it to crack the air. The swinefolk had just enough time to squeal in alarm before the tower shattered, breaking like pottery thrown against a brick wall. Bodies, stone, and wood flew into the air, sprayed across the top of the hill in a fan of debris. What was left of the building was half buried in the wreckage.
{Flesh Eater slain!}
{Feral Squealer slain!}
{Feral Squealer slain!}
{Flesh Eater slain!}
{Feral Shrieker slain!}
{Feral Shrieker slain!}
{Flesh Eater slain!}
{Feral Squealer slain!}
{Land Eater slain!}
{Land Eater slain!}
{Wild Smasher slain!}
Clay winced. He hadn’t expected the attack to be quite that effective, but he couldn’t quite complain, either. At the very least, he wouldn’t reach the top and find Olivia dead. Already starting the Canticle of Ice, in order to pick off whatever was left, he continued his headlong sprint towards the top. A familiar, terrible scream rang out as he drew near, lending him more urgency.
When he crested the hill, he found Olivia already fighting. One of the shriekers had apparently left the top of the tower before he’d obliterated it, and she was locked in combat with it. She seemed a little dazed; apparently, she’d already encountered the shrieker’s worst ability at close range. It hadn’t stopped her from wounding it, though, and she was still muttering something under her breath as it came around for another charge.
He was about to go to her side when the gates of the tower groaned open, and the rest of the swinefolk piled out of them. It was mostly a group of smashers and crushers, but there were a few of the other kinds inside as well. His attack hadn’t done as good of a job of collapsing the tower on top of them, so apparently far more of them had survived.
Clay changed course and ran towards them. Still a little dazed by the dust and the sudden destruction of their tower, he caught the swinefolk before they could spread out to get around him. They brought up their weapons to fight, and he tore through them like a wind through grain.
{Feral Squealer slain!}
{Feral Squealer slain!}
{Wild Smasher slain!}
{Wild Smasher slain!}
{Feral Squealer slain!}
{Wild Smasher slain!}
{Wild Smasher slain!}
{Wild Crusher slain!}
{Flesh Eater slain!}
{Flesh Eater slain!}
{Wild Smasher slain!}
{Wild Crusher slain!}
He heard another scream from behind him and glanced backwards. The shrieker had charged Olivia again, their blades meeting in another exchange. This time, however, she had apparently finished the [Chant] for Floating Step, and the momentum behind the clash had carried her along with the shrieker’s charge. Before it could realize that she was floating nearly alongside it, she brought her scythe down on its back, hard enough to hack through tough skin and bulging muscles.
He saw the shrieker arch in agony, losing its footing on the torn ground, before he was forced to turn back to his own task. Most of the swinefolk were dead now, but the crusher and land eater that remained seemed determined to make it difficult to keep them alive for Olivia. As he finished the Canticle of Ice, he used the spears of ice to slay the remaining lower-level monsters, leaving just the two higher-level ones to deal with.
The eater had launched its spell at him, and Clay was forced to evade it. He caught hold of a dead smasher’s hammer and tossed it at the creature, more hoping to distract it rather than kill it. It dropped the spell to shield itself, and he saw the weapon vanish into dust as it hit the dark barrier. A moment later, the crusher waded in, swinging its hammer at Clay’s head.
Clay caught the blow on his spear haft, feeling the power of it shiver up his arms. He gritted his teeth as the monster bore down on him, trying to force him to his knees. It took an effort to push the weapon up and back, especially as his feet slipped in the soil. The eater had already started its spell again, and Clay started the Refrain in response. Even if he didn’t want to kill the thing outright, he could at least use the ice spears to wound the crusher and strike the orb from the air.
Then a slingstone caught the eater right in the chin. The blow seemed to shock it, sending it stumbling backwards. Clay felt the pressure suddenly ease as the crusher glanced backwards at its companion, obviously suddenly concerned about the lack of support.
It failed to notice as Olivia came flying in from the side, her scythe already poised to strike as she went past. The sturdy blade ripped along the crusher’s back, making it groan in pain. She hit the ground and rolled, already starting another [Chant] as she came close to the eater.
Panic shot through Clay as she drew close, but he couldn’t warn her without breaking his own [Chant]. He needn’t have worried, however. Olivia came up with another slingstone in her hand, already throwing it at the eater’s head. The creature reacted instinctively, channeling the terrible barrier between itself and the projectile.
Then, as the eater’s shield destroyed her slingstone, Olivia swept low beneath the barrier with her war scythe. The blade bit deep into the eater’s torso, tearing through it in a single broad slice. Clay turned his attention back to the crusher as the eater collapsed, a grin on his face.
The crusher had let go of its hammer with one hand and had the other cocked back for a punch. Clay let go of his spear and caught the blow with his open palm, stopping it short of his face. The impact made his forearm ache, but Clay gritted his teeth and continued to fight, feeling the strength of the thing bear down on him. As long as it was focused on him, it wouldn’t see Olivia coming.
Clay had just enough time to appreciate just how strong the thing was before Olivia reached them. She ducked in low, hacking at the thing’s ankles, and the crusher howled and stumbled backwards. He pushed forward hard enough to topple it onto its back, and then Olivia was slashing at its head as hard as she could, apparently determined not to let it rise again.
When it went still, Clay stood back and surveyed the damage. The tower was broken enough that they likely wouldn’t return to it, and he could already sense more swinefolk closing in. He looked at Olivia, about to suggest that they make their way back to the others.
She was already stalking off in the direction of the nearest tower, her expression still serious. When he opened his mouth, she spoke in an iron-hard tone. “I can still fight. Let’s get at least one more.”
Clay closed his mouth and glanced upwards. The sun was still fairly high in the sky, and there was plenty of time before the others would get worried. He sighed. “All right. With me, then.”
Together, they started off down the hill, as the squeals and screams of the monsters echoed off the hills around them.
By the time Olivia went back to the others, she was already at level four. She’d gained [Defiant]—something that didn’t surprise Clay at all, given what she’d been fighting—and another [Experience] called [Challenger]. It apparently gave bonuses to fighting out in the open, as well as a skill she called Menace. Her lack of stealth had probably led to that result, but she had been more concerned that she hadn’t gotten anything related to her [Chants] than anything else.
Of course, once the others heard about her progress, they all wanted to do exactly the same thing. Even the Baroness got a speculative look in her eyes as she looked towards the south. Clay mentally revised his estimate of how the day would go, and then led Andrew back with him towards the ring of towers.
The young [Crafter] was quiet as they approached the first tower. His eyes were a little wide as he looked up the hill at the crude construction. When he glanced at Clay, his grip on his hammer tightened a little. “So, what’s our plan?”
Clay let out a little sigh, relieved that at least one of his supposed students was going to listen to him. “I’ll break open the tower and try to kill most of the monsters inside. You try to pick off as many of the high-level ones as you can.”
Andrew nodded. He looked back up at the tower. “And you’re planning on using magic to do all of that, right?”
There was a nervous twist to the words, and Clay sighed again. He nodded. “Yeah, I am.” When Andrew looked at him with an obvious question in his eyes, he continued despite himself. “The spells I use are ones that can easily be dangerous in the wrong hands. I wanted to wait until you were all more experienced with adventuring before we started in on them.”
Some of the nervousness disappeared from Andrew’s expression. He glanced up at the hill again. “I should still be able to do this, right? Even without the magic?”
“Yeah.” Clay patted him on the shoulder, trying to sound encouraging. “The shriekers are loud, the crushers are strong, and the eaters have some dangerous spells, but you can get past them if you stay focused. Just don’t…”
He trailed off as the other man rummaged through his sack. Clay blinked as Andrew drew something out of the bag and stuck it directly into his ear. “What are you doing?”
Andrew looked over at him. “I heard about the shriekers and thought it might be better to be prepared. Got myself some wax in town and formed it into the right shape. You won’t be able to talk to me, but from the rumors, you’ll be busy with your magic anyways.”
Clay blinked. He felt a grudging sense of admiration. “So they make it hard to hear?”
“Yeah. Dampens a lot of the noise.” Andrew took out a second one and then paused. He looked at Clay with a speculative expression. “Maybe we should have some kind of signal, though? Like, point to where you need me to go, palm out means stop, chopping motion means finish things or run?”
He nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.” Clay continued to watch as Andrew stuffed the second plug into his other ear. “You’ve really put a lot of thought into this.”
Andrew didn’t respond. Instead, he looked at the mountain and spoke as if he hadn’t heard anything. “We’ll see if these things work, and then we’ll hand them out to everyone. Just help me get up the mountain and maybe keep those eaters from killing me? Thanks.”
He glanced at Clay, who nodded and tried not to laugh. If they really did work, he might need a pair of those himself. It was a bit of a tradeoff to block out his hearing, but if he could avoid the headaches the shriekers could cause, it might be worth it.
A moment later, Andrew gave him a nod and gripped his hammer. Clay smiled and turned to the tower and started the Refrain. He’d gotten a lot better at avoiding killing all of them since his efforts with Olivia. Hopefully, he wouldn’t regret leaving too many alive.
It was a while later, at Andrew’s second tower, that Clay began to appreciate how hard the other [Commoner] had worked.
Andrew had already finished flattening a shrieker as it came loping towards him, and had just now ducked an orb that had been aimed at his head. He took a step forward, pulled a javelin from a quiver full of the things, and hurled it at the offending eater a few strides away. The weapon disintegrated against the thing’s protective shield, but Andrew hurled a second one only a heartbeat later. When the eater lowered its shield, the second javelin took it in the throat. It staggered backwards, clutching at the shaft of the weapon until Andrew added another one.
The eater fell over, dead where it stood. It left Andrew alone with the last of the swinefolk, a crusher that Clay had knocked into a pile of debris earlier. He watched as the [Commoner] approached the thing, his hammer held loosely in his hands. As Andrew reached it, the crusher finally shoved the last piece of debris away and stood, roaring in rage.
Andrew didn’t wait for it to finish its cry. He darted in faster than Clay would have expected before. The crusher swiped at him, but it had hesitated too long, and the great black hammer swung past too high to make contact.
By contrast, Andrew’s swing was directly on target. His sledgehammer met the thing’s kneecap with a sickening crunch. The crusher howled in rage, but it still fell to one knee. It placed a hand on the ground, perhaps intending to force itself back up, but Andrew swung a second time, and this time the thing’s elbow snapped.
It fell, trying to swipe at him again. Andrew backed away to let the hammer pulverize a nearby beam from the tower. Then he moved in and started swinging at the thing’s head, smashing it again and again until it stopped moving.
As the creature went still, Clay checked the position of the nearest enemies. They were still too far away to be worried about; he’d cleared a good number of them out after their first tower. Then he nodded to himself. “So. Level four?”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Andrew didn’t respond, so Clay walked over to tap him on the shoulder. The [Commoner] looked over, and Clay pointed at his ears. A smile broke out on Andrew’s face as he removed the plugs. “I hit level four! You were right about aiming for the joints, by the way. They go down way easier.”
Clay grinned back at him. “Congratulations! Anything interesting this time?”
The other [Commoner]’s grin grew a bit more. “[Defiant]! And one called [Armorer] too. Gives me a bonus when I am using my own gear.” He looked down and spun the hammer in his hands a little. “I might give this thing a rework when we get back to Janburg. See if it makes a difference.”
“Well, that does sound nice.” Clay clapped him on the shoulder and then looked back north. “Let’s get back to the others and see how everyone else does. They might have to work pretty hard to catch up!”
Andrew’s smile widened, and he went a little red. All the same, he was talking about new ideas the entire walk back to the others. Clay listened with half an ear as they walked, careful to steer them around the nearest swinefolk patrols. It wasn’t even midday yet, and his work was already half done.
“So we can learn it too?” The grin seemed ready to split Lana’s face in half. They were still on their way to her first tower, but she’d been a lot less shy than Andrew to ask about the [Chants]. “That’s excellent news. I thought it was some kind of special [Experience] we had to get.”
Clay shook his head. “Nothing like that, but there are some [Experiences] tied to them.” He looked at her, not entirely trusting her sudden enthusiasm. “They can be dangerous, too. That’s part of why we were waiting.”
Lana nodded along, her expression still alarmingly enthusiastic. “That makes sense. It always pays to be a bit cautious.” She chuckled to herself. “Not that I would complain if you had shared it earlier, of course. It seems like Olivia’s already been putting some to good use.”
He winced, realizing that Olivia must have already been talking about it with the others. “She has… a lot of experience with things like that already. It helps that she’s had some time to see how I used them, and how to avoid the dangerous stuff.”
“Well, not to brag, but I might be able to do a little bit of that as well.” Her smile grew a bit more, somehow. “I have the [Minstrel] [Subclass], after all, and it seems like there’s a rhythm to a lot of the spells. At least, that’s what I thought when Olivia was demonstrating them earlier.”
Clay blinked. Now that she’d mentioned it, a [Subclass] like [Minstrel] did seem like it would fit with the [Chants] fairly well. It made him a little jealous about the potential benefits it would give her. [Laborer] just never seemed to match up.
He pushed those feelings aside, however, and nodded. “Yeah, you probably will end up being good at them once we get to that point.” Then he paused. “First, though, we need to finish off our work today.”
Lana nodded. “The others both did two towers a piece, right? And they both hit level four?” An expression of determination settled on her features, and she plucked at her bowstring for a moment. “Then I’m going to do the same.”
Clay looked back at her. “You know what’s waiting for us, right?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. A hint of uncertainty crossed her face. “When you destroy the tower, do you think they’ll run? Or will they chase you?”
He blinked. “It seems like they’ve been trying to hunt me down.”
“When they try it, lead them back to me.” She tested the string on her bow for a moment. “I want to see if it is possible to kill them from a distance, still. If not, then I can try to use the sword again.”
It seemed like only a small risk. Clay gave her a nod. “All right. I’ll get their attention. Just remember, we don’t have all the time in the world once the shriekers scream.”
Lana nodded seriously. “I know. Thank you.”
They reached the hill a short while later, and Clay waited for a moment. He started the Canon for the fifth time that day, beginning his jog up the side of the hill towards his target.
Just like before, he heard the shriekers sound the alarm, and yet another avalanche of projectiles tumbled down towards him a few heartbeats later. He launched the boulder in response and dismissed the similar avalanche of notifications as the tower’s walls came down.
Unlike before, Clay then turned to run back towards the patch of grass that he’d just exited. He took a few running strides and then thought better of the plan. Instead of running right back to Lana, he curved so that he was aiming at a different spot, one that was a short distance away from where he’d left it.
The swinefolk charged after him, those that could still walk. There had to be nearly a dozen of them, all screaming and roaring as they came down the hill towards him. Clay couldn’t help the smirk that worked its way across his features. None of them even so much as looked at the spot where he had been standing before, and he could already see Lana drawing back her first arrow.
He started his own [Chant] a few moments later, calling up the Canticle of Ice. Clay made sure to shout it loudly, trying to draw the attention of the monsters behind him. They sped up, all but the land eater at the back that suddenly stopped to look down at the arrowhead sprouting from its chest. It collapsed without a sound, followed by both flesh eaters that had been trundling along behind it.
With the magic users down, Clay felt himself relax a little more. All he had to worry about were the melee combatants now, and he was confident they wouldn’t be that much of a problem.
The squealers and shriekers were on him a moment later, their shrill screams surrounding him in a tortured medley of sound. Clay lashed out with his spear, moving faster than they could have hoped. All three squealers died in heartbeats, their harsh voices cutting off as the spearblade slashed and bit at them. One of the shriekers died too, impaled through the chest. He dodged the last one and batted it aside with the spear haft; he wanted to give Lana her shot, after all.
She took that shot a moment later, as the shrieker was skidding to a halt. Its hooves and hands were scrambling in the dirt to change its momentum, to leap back at him. Clay caught sight of its eyes registering the shock of the dead eaters and saw it open its mouth to begin a new scream.
Then Lana’s arrow caught it in the roof of the mouth, vanishing into its gaping maw. The shrieker jerked backwards and choked. Its eyes rolled in its head, and a second arrow blossomed from right between its eyes. It slumped, and Clay turned back to the remaining swinefolk with a satisfied smile.
His happiness vanished as he saw the remainder of the enemies split into two groups. Two crushers and a pair of smashers still charged at him, but the last crusher and three smashers had reversed course, and were rushing down the hill towards Lana.
Clay completed the Canticle of Ice a moment later and used the glittering spears of ice to slaughter the swinefolk in front of him. As they fell, he jumped over their corpses to head for the others. Lana would need to pull back just a little, but he could distract them long enough for her to—
His thoughts cut off as Lana stepped out of the grass. Her bow came up, and she loosed an arrow. Then another. Another, even as the swinefolk bore down on her with hammers raised and roars on the wind.
One of the smashers jerked and fell to its knees, pawing at its face. A second slowed, dropping a hammer to clutch at a torn throat. The third simply stopped, tumbling down the slope as if it were a discarded toy, one with an arrow buried deep in its twisted features.
Then there was just the crusher left, only a handful of strides from her. Lana looked up at it, her hands and arms already moving to draw back another arrow. She loosed it at nearly point blank range, the broadhead shaft crossing the gap in less than a heartbeat. The crusher’s head rocked backwards, one hand reaching towards its eyes.
Yet it didn’t stop, and Clay felt his heart leap into his throat as it swung the hammer with enough force to smash a stone to dust.
Lana had drifted away from the swing, already taking up her next arrow. As the hammer came down, he saw fear and determination mingle on her face. She jumped backwards, just barely evading death as the hammer smashed a hole in the ground. Her next shot caught the crusher again, and it screamed, a howl so filled with rage that Clay felt it twist in his gut.
It swung again, this time scything through stalks of grass as it tried to smash her, but Lana had already changed position. To Clay’s shock, the thing swung again and again at a place where nobody stood, even as Lana stepped around its charge and drew yet another arrow.
The creature spun around, and Clay saw the reason for its sudden lack of direction. Blood ran down its face from the spots where two arrows stood out from the places where its beady eyes had been. In a literal blind rage, it threw back its head and howled again. Lana took aim.
There was a thunk as the arrow slammed home inside its maw. The roaring sound cut off, and the crusher stood still, its head still tilted back and its destroyed eyes turned to the sky.
Then, like a tree defeated by time and weather, it toppled over backwards. Clay came to a halt as the corpse struck the soil in front of him, hitting hard enough to embed itself in the ravaged ground.
He looked from the swinefolk to Lana, who was staring at the creature. She was breathing hard, clearly a little shaken, but she still smiled. “Well, that’s one! What do we have next?”
A little over an hour later, Clay brought Lana back to the group. She had reached level four as well, with [Experiences] like [Defiant] and [Bow Expert] to show for it. The [Minstrel] had already been pestering him about the [Chants] she could learn, making notes on the back of her hand as she walked. The instant they arrived back with the others, she had made a beeline towards Olivia, who looked a little alarmed.
Mitchell seemed a bit less than excited to go last, but the stolid old [Guard] had merely sighed and given the Baroness a salute before joining Clay. The [Noble] had nodded back respectfully and given Clay a brief salute with her war scythe.
Clay had returned the salute with his spear, and then turned to walk with Mitchell towards the towers that would be their targets for the day. He glanced backwards at the group for a moment. “What do you think of the Baroness, Mitchell?”
The [Guard] gave him a measuring look. “She’s as good a [Noble] as anyone could hope for. Especially in a place like Janburg.” Mitchell shook his head. “She’s been fighting for a long time to keep us safe. I consider it a great honor to join her.”
Then Mitchell tilted his head to the side and looked back at Clay. “Why do you ask, Sir Clay?”
There was a warning tone to the old [Guard]’s words that made Clay wince. “I just… have some decisions to make. About what to share with people.”
“Ah. The magic.” Mitchell smiled. “I think whether you decide to share it is irrelevant, I’m afraid. Syr Olivia will probably take it into her own hands before the day is over.”
Clay snorted. He shook his head. “Oh. Well, at least it is nice to know when I don’t get a say in something.”
Mitchell laughed, a gruff bark of amusement that Clay hadn’t heard before. “Sir Clay, the woman pulled Olivia from the jaws of the monsters with her own hands. I doubt there is anything you could have said to keep them from sharing these… [Chants], once the Baroness asked about them.”
Then the [Guard]’s usual somber mood reasserted itself. “All the same, I think you can trust the Baroness. I’ve known her for years, and she’s been nothing if not loyal, compassionate, and brave. She’s risked her life more times than I can count for the people of Janburg. If you trust any of us to do the right thing, you can trust her.”
Clay smiled. “That’s… good to hear.” He glanced at the man, trying to get a better gauge of his attitude. “You don’t think less of me for holding back some things?”
The man shook his head. “Not really. It was probably a good thing you didn’t immediately start teaching everyone.”
Surprised, Clay raised his eyebrows. Mitchell raised one of his own in response. “Don’t think that I missed why some of the others left. I don’t think anyone would have wanted someone like that Sal running around with whatever you could do. It’s not a bad thing to make sure you can trust someone before you put a blade in their hand. We do the same thing with soldiers. Not every [Guard] is a good person, after all.”
Slightly relieved, Clay sighed. He nodded. “I’m glad you understand.” Then he grinned. “Are you ready for the towers, then? The others all hit level four.”
The soldier nodded. “Then let’s be about it. I heard that dinner will be delicious tonight, anyway.”
Clay snorted. They made their way through the hills together, while the sun overhead continued its slide towards the end of the day.
They reached the towers that Clay had chosen out as the shadows were lengthening. He settled in next to the soldier to study the structure in front of him.
The two spots he’d chosen out for Mitchell to attack were much more isolated than the others had been. Olivia had destroyed the two closest towers to the east; Lana had killed the two closest on the west, and Andrew had taken the next two beyond that. There wouldn’t be any reinforcements for them, beyond the groups of swinefolk still milling around in the hills, though even those had been reduced by the continual fighting.
As Clay studied the easternmost of the two, he let himself relax slightly. After a day full of tension and surprises, all he had left to do was a pair of assaults. Even if Mitchell decided on a straightforward attack, it still would be easy to finish and be home quickly.
When he rose from a crouch, Mitchell reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Sir Clay. A moment.”
Clay settled back down, and Mitchell eyed the tower before he continued. “You’ve been attacking these things all day, right? It looks like most of the towers around here are down.”
He nodded, and Mitchell continued in a quiet voice. “Yet they’re not pulling back. I’d have expected them to at least start to run. They’re still here.”
The words made Clay’s eyes narrow. He looked back up at the tower. “You think it’s a trap.”
Mitchell nodded. “I’d bet these towers are supposed to be a line of sentries. They let the rest of the monsters know when an enemy is coming.” He gestured at the tower above them. “If they already know one is coming, they could probably pull back and set up a different response. I’d bet there’s a trap waiting if we just continue to rush in here.”
Clay paused. He turned to look at the tower and whispered the words for Hawk’s Flight. A moment later, he saw the figures moving in the tower as if he was standing right next to them. There were smashers, squealers, and flesh eaters…but none of the middle rank monsters. If they weren’t there...
He grimaced. When had he gotten so overconfident? “So, what should we do? Hit one of the further towers?”
The [Guard] shook his head. “No. Sentries are always a good idea, but when the Baroness sends us out hunting for bandits, we usually find out that they are only watching in one direction.” He pointed to one of the other towers. “I say we circle around one of the other hills, and then come at these places from behind. It might give us a better chance to take them by surprise, at least.”
It sounded like an excellent idea. Clay looked at the closest destroyed tower, judging the distance with his eyes. Then he turned back to Mitchell. “You don’t object to a quick run?”
The other man chuckled. “I still have plenty of life left in me, Sir Clay. Let’s see what these things had in store for us.”
It took a bit longer than Clay might have liked, but they moved around the now-vacant hill and into the terrain beyond with the sun still high in the sky.
Clay had been expecting nothing but more torn ground on the other side, but he found that there were once again fields of hill grass and weeds growing wild. There were more tracks of torn earth where the swinefolk had passed through, but it seemed as if they hadn’t bothered to clear the ground on this side of their line of towers.
Of course, they hadn’t relied on just those towers, either. In the distance, Clay could catch sight of another row of hills with more towers atop them. They looked bigger than the ones he’d broken so far, and he grimaced at the thought of having to push further in.
Rather than taking that chance, however, they curved back to the east and made their way through the grass towards the southern side of the towers they had left intact. There, in the shadows of one of those hills, they found exactly what Mitchell had been expecting.
There was a small army of swinefolk stretched out on the slope, their attention on the tower above. Clay picked out all of the medium rank monsters that he would have expected to be in the tower, and what had to be half a dozen groups of the lower rank creatures as well. He looked back at Mitchell, who had a smug expression that seemed entirely justified.
Clay pointed at the eaters and drew a hand across his neck. Mitchell nodded and readied his spear and shield.
Under his breath, Clay began the [Chant] for the Canticle of Ice. It wasn’t the strongest spell, especially not against enemies that were inside a stone wall, but these creatures were completely out in the open.
The moment the [Chant] finished, Clay charged out into the open. Nearly a dozen spears of ice launched themselves through the air. Nearly every eater on the hillside was instantly pinned to the ground beneath them. As the rest of the swinefolk threw themselves back to their feet, the only land eater that hadn’t already been killed began to turn, only for Mitchell to hurl his spear through its side.
As the last eater fell, Clay leaped into the middle of the others. Smashers and squealers died as he tore through them. He was already reciting the Refrain, speeding through the words as his spear hacked, stabbed, and smashed the creatures aside.
Mitchell fell behind as Clay forged ahead. The [Guard] struck out with a short sword and shield, fending off squealers as they came at him. A shrieker came flying in at him, and Clay’s heart leapt into his throat as Mitchell ignored a squealer to focus on the threat. Its crooked knife struck sparks from the man’s breastplate, leaving a scratched line across the front. Clay heard Mitchell grunt, but the [Guard] didn’t even slow down as he blocked the shrieker’s swords and then waded in, his sword flashing in the afternoon sun.
Clay brought his attention back to the swinefolk around him, dealing death to whatever dared draw close. He could hear screams from the direction of the tower, and a glance told him that the decoys that had been left in the tower were now running down the slope, hoping to join in the melee. The Refrain completed a moment later, and he sent another shower of ice spears to intercept them. Their headlong charge turned into an awkward tumble as they died.
Satisfied, he began the Refrain one more time. There were only two crushers left, with a handful of smashers and a shrieker with them. The shrieker darted in at him, its horrible scream forcing him to concentrate on maintaining his [Chant]. Clay killed it with a snarl, lashing out with his spear to stab it through the head. A smasher ran at him from behind, and Clay used the butt of his spear to crush its skull before he put the blade through a crusher’s throat.
To his surprise, the monster didn’t die instantly. Instead, the crusher reached up and grabbed his spear, resisting his attempt to pull it free for a moment. A shadow fell over Clay, and he looked to the side to see the other crusher already swinging its hammer, obviously intending to smash him across the landscape.
Mitchell was there a moment later, his shield raised. The hammer hit him hard enough to shove him back into Clay, and he heard the older man grunt in pain. He didn’t buckle, however; instead, the [Guard] raised his spear, which he’d apparently recovered from the corpse of the eater, and lunged forward. Clay saw the crusher try to retreat, but Mitchell just committed to the charge, stabbing at its face over and over as it tried to backpedal.
A pair of smashers tried to interfere, and Clay ripped his spear away from the now-dead crusher so he could deal with them. Both died before they could defend their higher-ranked companion, and when Clay turned his attention back to Mitchell, the [Guard] had leapt into the air. He dropped his shield and brought the spear around in an overhead stab with both hands, catching the monster right between the eyes. Hide and bone gave way with a crunch, and the crusher fell over backwards. Mitchell landed on its chest and wrenched his spear back and forth before ripping it free.
That quickly, the fight was over. The [Guard] looked back at Clay and raised an eyebrow. “Are you well, Sir Clay?”
Clay nodded, giving the man a small smile. “Yeah. Thanks for the save, Sir Mitchell.”
The [Guard] blinked. Despite himself, he gave another one of those gruff barks of laughter. “That seems like an odd title for me, Sir Clay. I’m just a [Guard].”
With a snort, Clay gestured to the dead swinefolk all around. “I’d say the monsters would not agree, Sir.” The [Commoner] looked around with an unreadable expression. A chorus of screams rose from the area near the other decoy tower again, and Clay looked in that direction. “How long do you think it will take the other group to reach this place?”
Mitchell shrugged, his expression suggesting that he was still a little distracted. “Perhaps another few minutes. Maybe more.”
Clay grinned. He pointed his spear at a nearby dip in the terrain, one where the grass and the weeds conspired to conceal a small hiding spot. “Do you think they’ll be expecting us to stick around and surprise them?”
The question brought a smile to Mitchell’s face. He shook his head, and Clay chuckled. “Then let’s have a welcome prepared for them, shall we?”
When they reached the camp again, Mitchell had reached his fourth level, along with both [Defiant] and [Defender], both [Experiences] that Clay felt the man had earned well.
The others looked mildly exhausted at their efforts, but the party still returned to Janburg with an air of triumph. Clay didn’t think that the towers they had broken would be easily rebuilt, and even if they were, the number of dead swinefolk couldn’t be that easy to replace. Between the assaults on the towers and the hunts between attacks, hundreds of the things had to have been slaughtered. Even a high rank Lair couldn’t replace them that easily.
All the same, he felt a hint of urgency as he bunked down for the night. There had to be other plans in motion. Whether it was the King’s people or the Council’s that decided to interfere, someone would walk into Janburg before long with some kind of orders to stop what he was doing. Their business with the Lair needed to be finished before that happened.
With that thought giving him urgency, he set out again the next day, intending to help the others make the same amount of progress. Just a few more days at this rate, and they’d have another reinforcement to [Swinebane], and he could start attacking the inner defenses of the Lair itself.
Unless, of course, the monsters had other plans.
