Chapter Twelve
“To the gate, all of you!” Thror bellowed as he pushed a leaner man forward. “Athal, sound the bell. Let the people know to hide.”
“Right away, Mayor,” Athal, the lean human with a mop of brown hair, said in a hurried voice before he sprinted for the town hall.
“Giian and Kryyk are already fighting off the horde,” Aila said as she leaned forward and offered me her hand. “I can get you there quicker on horseback.”
I glanced at the half-elf’s extended palm, and then to my wife and Karrida, who had been wide-eyed ever since the commotion started.
Karrida had no weapon on her, and I didn’t want her running headfirst into a fight while defenseless. Ellyn, on the other hand, had all the power she needed ready and raring to go.
“Karrida, go with Athal and help the townspeople get to safety,” I ordered the ginger-haired woman.
“But--”
“Don’t argue with me,” I said firmly. “You have no weapon. I know you can fight, but we need to act now.”
“Alright,” she reluctantly grumbled before she took off in a sprint toward the closest row of houses.
“Ellyn, follow Thror and his men,” I said to my wife, who had already widened her stance in preparation. “I’ll go with Aila and meet you down there.”
There was no more time for arguing, so I grabbed Aila’s hand and let her pull me onto the back of her horse. I wrapped my arms around her waist before she could send her horse into a sprint, and when she did, I surged forward with my chest pressed against her hard armored back.
Her horse was moving like lightning. The tall stone houses around us blurred into one streak of black, and as the breeze whipped through us, I caught the faintest whiff of lilies and wildflowers from Aila’s hair.
I clung to her tightly, and I wasn’t complaining about the proximity like I had with Commander Nuro.
Armored bandits were funneling out of the treeline and sprinting down the hill toward Midhallow. The gate had been breached, and I spotted the man who had let us in sprawled out on the ground, either dead or unconscious.
Kryyk and Giian were attacking who they could, and they’d already taken out a few of the misaligned bandits.
I only had my Glock and sword, but it would be more than enough. Giian and Kryyk were already slicing into the men charging toward Midhallow with their weapons raised and snarls on their faces.
Unlike the uncoordinated scattering of rogue bandits who had caught the rumor of the shard on the road, these men were fighting with purpose.
Shaar was puppeting them with invisible strings, but it wasn’t through magic.
Somehow, he had convinced these men to fight for him for the promise of I don’t know what.
It was a jarring and frightening truth, and it only made the situation we were in feel more suffocating.
“We’re almost there!” Aila said over the rushing wind. “Can you fight from up here?”
“I’ve got a gun,” I said before I realized she would have no knowledge of what that would mean. “I need to be on the ground and steady to shoot. But I can use my sword, too.”
“Then get ready to jump,” the dark-haired soldier said over her shoulder
We were meters away from the chaos when Aila pulled on the reins of her horse and caused it to skid to a halt. As the horse’s hooves skidded against the cobblestones, I leaped down from its back and forward rolled.
By the time I was standing on my own two feet again, Aila was already charging through the small swarm of men breaching the entrance of Midhallow. She swung her sword left and right in wide arcs and managed to clip a few before she was forced to turn her horse back around.
Giian and Kryyk stormed forward from behind her, and they effectively cut off the only exit for the small legion.
I heard the fierce roars of the townguard behind me, as well as angered cries from other Midhallowers charging around the corner of the stone wall.
The intruders were cornered, and for the briefest of moments, I saw their eyes widen in fear.
But that quick flash was gone and replaced with the same feral bloodlust I’d seen way too many times before.
While Giian, Kryyk, and Aila took out the backline, I focused on the men still running forward.
Thror and the others were still pretty far behind me, so that meant I had to hold off the bulk of what was heading straight for me and the town.
The bells from the town hall tolled like a harbinger of death, and I could hear the distant sound of doors and windows slamming shut.
I pulled my gun out of its holster and aimed for the closest bandit. One pull of the trigger, and he was on his back clutching at a hole in his chest.
The sound resonated through the valley, but it didn’t stop the onslaught from charging. I aimed at the next and fired again, until I’d completely emptied my magazine and put ten of them down on their asses.
When I felt the slide lock back on the empty mag, I slipped my gun back into his holster and pulled my sword out instead.
Not only did I not have any extra mags on me, I wanted to conserve as much ammo as I could, and using the sword was just as handy as my gun.
Two burly orcs with vicious snarls on their tusked faces singled me out, but the townguard, Thror, and Ellyn were already here.
Fireballs and shards of ice flew past my head and barreled into some of the oncoming bandits. The men who had curved around the side of the wall had started fighting, too, and they joined the king’s men in taking out the backline with an array of swords and powers.
Ellyn joined me at my side and shoved her hands forward. Bright red flames poured out of her palms and wrapped around the giant orcs’ forms. The fire engulfed them within a blink of an eye, and their intimidating snarls melted into open-mouthed screams of agony.
While they frantically patted at their bodies in a vain attempt to extinguish the flames, I darted forward with my sword. I slashed at their bent knees and felt the blade cut through the tender flesh like butter.
They both stumbled as their knees gave out, and their burning forms rolled onto the stones. The flames consumed them and burned through their leather armor, which melted and fused into their skin until I couldn’t tell where it ended and flesh began.
When their bodies stopped moving and the flames died down, we turned our attention to our next victims.
The townguard had run into the fray, but there were still stragglers breaking free from the mass and heading straight toward town.
Until Ellyn tossed her arm out like she was throwing a frisbee, and a sheet of ice slid across the cobblestones in front of the running men.
As soon as their boots hit the slick surface, they either stumbled forward and frantically tried to keep their footing, or they fell back onto their asses. Their weapons were discarded and slid away from them on the slippery ground, which left them open and defenseless.
I stalked over to the closest bandit still stumbling forward, and when he staggered closer to me, I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him onto my sword.
The blade pierced straight through his chest, and the raspy breath he sucked in sounded like a death rattle.
I yanked my sword out with a grunt and threw his body to the ground before I turned to the next bandit. Two were scurrying across the ice on their hands and knees in an attempt to escape the ice trap, but I was too fast.
I brought my sword down in one fell swoop, but I looked away as the man’s head toppled off and to the ground. Then I slashed the neck of the other bandit who had watched his friend’s execution with wide eyes.
Blood sprayed like a fountain and coated the shining ice. The display seemed to dishearten a few of the other bandits not occupied by the townguard or king’s men, and for a moment, their stances faltered.
Rather than crossing the ice, Ellyn threw a few shards out of her palms like crystalline daggers. Each of them embedded themselves into the unsuspecting forms of the men still stuck on the ice, and bodies dropped like flies.
The numbers of the bandits had dwindled significantly, but everyone was still occupied with at least one son of a bitch.
Suddenly, I heard the frantic neigh of one of the horses, and when I turned toward the sound, I saw two bandits pulling Aila’s horse down. The king’s soldier was desperately swinging her sword in an attempt to get them away from her, but their iron gauntlets blocked most of the hits.
I charged forward without another thought, and before they could drag Aila down from her saddle, I drove my blade into the sweet spot between the iron armor on one of the attackers’ sides.
The sword pushed through and hit bone, and the attacker fell back from the horse with a surprised yell. My sword was still buried inside of him, so I twisted the blade and heard the sickening squelch of his insides churning.
My attack gave Aila enough time to slam the butt of her sword onto the head of the other attacker still tugging at the reins of her horse. His unhelmeted head caved in with a crunch, and his body fell to the ground in a heap.
Aila let out a feral sound, and when I glanced up at her, her violet eyes were wide and crazed. She gave me the briefest of nods before she tugged her horse back and moved on to help Giian finish off another bandit.
Ellyn and I picked off a few more stragglers who had tried to sneak past our counterattack, and by the time we’d snuffed out their lives, it was done.
The bandits laid dead on the ground, with only one or two Midhallow citizens alongside them.
Everyone was breathless and gasping for air, but other than that, no one seemed to be injured.
“Thank you,” Thror huffed as he wiped his bloodied forehead with the back of his sleeve. “We are in your debt.”
“No, you’re not,” I said. “It’s my fault these men came here.”
“It is no such thing,” the mayor protested. “We’ve been aware of the threat. Unfortunately, they got the better of us today.”
“We must return to Gladewood,” Giian declared as he flicked a chunk of viscera off his pauldron. “If this wasn’t the only place they attacked, it could be in trouble.”