Chapter 149 - Shattered Walls

Even as I was thinking that, Plum smashed into the wall again, this time with enough force it almost threw me from my feet. I took to the air again, flying high enough that I was out of arrow range, and took in the entire spectacle from above.

Plum had broken the outer wall. The inner logs were still holding together, but only just. Another few blows and she’d be through. Sue was still a ways back from the wall, blasting the gatehouse over and over, as rapidly as the Fireball spell reset. The Abominations were all gathering nearer to Plum now, waiting for the kaiju chicken to bust through the wall so they could go pouring into the gap. My fire skeletons were punishing any goblins which showed their faces on the parapet.

The humans and ratkin were still a good distance back, staged in a loose line where they could watch for any goblins which try to break out. I was confident that once those walls went down, the goblins were probably going to rout. There was a second, smaller gate on the opposite side of the fort, and I was willing to bet crystals that a bunch of them would book it that way as soon as Plum punched through their walls.

I couldn’t even begin to blame them. That chicken was scary when she was alive. Now that she was a skeleton with glowing red eyes, she had to be downright terrifying to anyone facing off against her.

Another crunch reverberated through the clearing as she hit the wall again. Finally, timbers went tumbling into the space beyond. The goblins inside scattered as chunks of the wall collapsed toward them. They fled, racing away from the chicken, many of them stumbling as they rushed to be anywhere except there.

It didn’t save them.

Plum got through the wall and immediately charged into the chaos beyond, scattering goblins like dry leaves. Her skeletal claws tore up the churned ground as she thundered after the fleeing enemy.

The Abominations roared and followed, a terrifying wall of undead muscle and rage. They barreled through the breach after Plum, grabbing any goblin too slow or too panicked to get out of their way. I watched as one of the Abominations caught a fleeing goblin by the leg and hurled him bodily into a timber pile hard enough to snap bones.

The goblins did exactly what I’d predicted. They broke. Their line disintegrated, fear overcoming whatever primitive sense of duty or discipline they might have had. Dozens of them bolted for the far side of the fort, racing for the smaller, secondary gate. They swarmed like ants toward it, a green-skinned flood desperate to escape the doom crashing through their defenses.

From my place high above, I issued the next set of orders. I had Plum, Sue, and the Abominations pursue and destroy the enemy. I didn’t want to let any of them escape. They’d just re-establish themselves somewhere else and cause a new set of headaches.

Sue, still pounding the gatehouse with rhythmic blasts of fire, finally turned with a low, crackling growl and charged toward the shattered breach to join the others.

The humans and ratkin were doing their jobs, too. I saw small skirmishes already breaking out along the sides of the woods as some of the goblins who managed to squirm past the initial chaos ran straight into our perimeter.

It was working. Everything was going exactly to plan. Right up until I spotted Alfred.

My heart sank.

He wasn’t where he was supposed to be—holding position with the rest of the living troops to intercept any runners. Instead, he was sprinting straight toward the breach, battle axe gleaming in his hand, his face a mask of pure, reckless rage.

“No, damn it,” I whispered, already angling downward through the air.

The whole point of keeping the living back was to reduce risk to our people. Alfred’s hate for the goblins had overwhelmed his common sense, apparently, because he was rushing right into the middle of things. If I didn’t get him out of there, he was going to find himself surrounded by terrified goblins. Not a great plan.

I dropped fast, willing my Flight spell to shove me downward quicker than gravity alone could manage. Alfred was already carving his way through the outer ring of goblins, swinging his axe in wide, vicious arcs. One goblin went down hard, blood spraying as Alfred’s axe took him across the collarbone. The goblin’s corpse didn’t even hit the ground before Alfred charged forward again, bellowing a wordless war cry.

Straight into a full squad of the creatures.

There were at least ten goblins clustered near the breach, either too cornered or too furious to run with the others. They turned as one, shrieking battle cries of their own, and mobbed him. Spears jabbed at him from all directions. Alfred ducked one, parried another with the haft of his axe, then countered with a brutal overhead swing that split the skull of the nearest goblin in two.

He was holding his own, for now—but for how long? It was only going to take one good shot to bring him down, and once he was wounded, that would be the end. But Alfred was my best friend’s fiancee, and as pissed off as I was, I wasn’t going to let him die here. Not on my watch.

I hit the ground behind the goblins, landing hard enough that it shook the soil underfoot. Before they could react, I slashed out with my short sword, catching one across the back of the neck and dropping him instantly. Another goblin turned toward me, shrieking. I cast Drain Life at him mid-spin, stealing his life energy even as he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Alfred fought like a demon, but between the two of us, the squad didn’t stand a chance. Thirty seconds later, the last goblin gurgled and fell to the dirt, black blood soaking into the ground around him.

I rounded on Alfred immediately.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I snapped, my voice low but sharp enough to cut steel. “You knew the plan, Alfred. You were supposed to stay back and intercept runners. That was your role here.”

He straightened, shoulders still heaving with exertion, eyes wild. “I saw an opening. They were breaking. It was the perfect time to hit them.”

“No.” I stabbed a finger into his breastplate, hard enough that he stumbled a step backward. “You wanted to hit them. You let your hate get the better of you. That’s not how this works.”

His jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything.

I leaned in closer. “You’re a good fighter. But if you ever break ranks like that again, you’re going to get someone killed. Maybe yourself. Maybe someone else who has to come running to save your dumb ass.”

He flushed red, glaring at me for half a heartbeat, but then the anger bled out of him, replaced by shame. His shoulders slumped. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Selena. It won’t happen again.”

I stared at him for a long moment. I needed to be sure he understood this wasn’t optional. Finally, I gave a sharp nod. “See that it doesn’t. Next time you ignore an order, I’ll bench you until you remember who’s in charge.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Okay, that was weird. I wasn’t used to someone calling me that. But in a way, it was a good thing. It showed he was taking me seriously, and that was what I needed to hear. I clapped him once solidly on the shoulder—hard enough to rattle his teeth—and turned back toward the breach.

“Now get your ass back to your post,” I ordered, already taking to the air again. “We’re not done yet.”

The goblins were still running. And I intended to make sure damn few of them got away.

I soared up over the breach again, surveying the battlefield. The goblins were in full retreat, scattering through the shattered remains of their fort like ants fleeing from that nest we flooded. Plum and the Abominations tore through their ranks with methodical savagery, cutting down anything that moved. Sue came thundering in from the flank, roaring with fury. Massive skeletal claws ripped through a clutch of fleeing goblins in a spray of gore and shattered bone.

It was almost over.

A crack of lightning split the air, and I spun in time to see a searing bolt slam straight into Plum’s side. She staggered with a shriek of agony, her skeletal frame glowing white-hot at the point of impact. Chips of bone flew outward, and for a terrifying second I thought she might actually go down.

I spotted the source instantly. A goblin, taller and broader than the others, stood atop the remnants of the gatehouse. His armor was scorched black, runes etched in jagged spirals all over the plates. In one hand he gripped a twisted black staff, and the air around him shimmered with crackling energy. As I examined him, I realized he was way stronger than the other goblins. This one was tier eight!

Well, shit.

This was a threat I was going to have to handle personally. I dove, flying as hard and fast as I could toward Plum even as the goblin mage raised his staff again. Another orb of lightning crackled into existence above his head, ready to strike the kaiju skeleton a second time.

Not if I had anything to say about it.

I hit the ground near Plum and slapped a hand against her scorched flank, casting Heal Undead. Warm magic surged out from me, washing over her battered bones. The blackened scorch marks faded. Cracks sealed themselves. Plum let out a rattling, almost relieved-sounding screech.

“Good girl,” I said under my breath.

The goblin mage snarled and hurled the next lightning bolt—at me this time. I yanked my Flight spell to the side, veering off course at the last second. The bolt missed me by a hair’s breadth, slamming into the ground in a shower of sparks.

Time for a Drain Life, I thought savagely, hurling the spell at him.

The black energy coiled across the open air and struck him square in the chest. He hissed, muscles locking, life energy ripped free of him in dark tendrils. It staggered him, but he didn’t go down. Tier eight was no joke. He clutched his staff tighter, slammed it into the ground, and the lightning around him flared even brighter.

A shockwave of force burst outward, catching me mid-air and slamming me down into the mud. I grunted, rolling over just in time to see him advancing toward me, staff raised high.

No way, I thought grimly, dragging myself to my feet.

He started gathering another ball of lightning at the tip of his staff—and I realized I couldn’t dodge this one in time. Not from this angle. Not from this distance.

Fine. If he wanted to play rough, I could, too. Instead of dodging, I pivoted, putting myself between him and Sue, who was thundering in from behind. I just needed to buy a few more seconds.

The goblin roared something in his harsh, guttural language and let the lightning fly. I braced myself, the blast striking my sword and sending shockwaves down my arm. My muscles clenched, spasming from the powerful shock. But I knew I could take a hit like this. I was braced for it.

He was already gathering his magic for another blast, and this time I knew I wouldn’t be able to survive it. But that didn’t matter, because taking that one hit had locked his entire attention on me.

Which was exactly what I needed.

Because behind him, Sue was there.

With a roar that shook the trees, the skeletal T-rex lunged forward, jaws snapping shut around the top half of the goblin mage with a crunch that echoed across the battlefield. He barely had time to squeal before Sue clamped down with titanic force, lifting him bodily off the ground and shaking him like a rag doll.

A blast of uncontrolled lightning surged from his broken staff, sizzling harmlessly into the sky. Then Sue bit down harder—and the goblin mage’s upper torso disappeared in a shower of blood and shattered armor.

And just like that, the fight was over.

The remaining goblins broke completely, whatever scraps of courage they had left disintegrating at the sight of their champion’s grisly end. They fled in every direction, but they didn’t get far. The ratkin and human fighters waiting in the woods cut them down in waves. My smaller undead harried the rest, dragging them down one by one.

I stood there for a long moment, panting, covered in mud, blood, and soot, watching the rout unfold. We’d done it! We had a victory. It was hard fought, and it hadn’t been perfect, but it was ours.

“Good job, Sue,” I muttered, patting their massive bony leg as the dino rumbled a growl, then tossed aside the goblin mage’s broken body.

I tapped the big goblin’s body, and sure enough, he was the leader of this band. I ended up with three stones from him. There was a tier one control stone, a tier five Will crystal, and the awesome find of a tier eight Lightning Bolt spell. That was an amazing find!

Exhausted, I looked around at the broken fort, the dead goblins, the burning gatehouse, and my people taking down the last of our foes. Yeah, we'd won. But if this was the level of strength goblins were reaching now—tier eight mages?—then the world was changing faster than I’d feared. We were going to need to change even faster.