Chapter 79
Seventy-nine
James
I spent the rest of the voyage memorizing the spell, and I made sure four other priests had a copy of it and were memorizing it too.
Just in case. During mental breaks, I kept praying we got there before the enemy.
I had two mages on each ship pushing things along with wind spells, but we could only hurry a boat along so much before we risked the ship coming apart altogether.
It was a relief when Wood’s Cross came into sight.
Finally, time to go.
The trick to landing onshore was to off-load as quickly as possible. We were half lined up before the ship even reached the docks, and the second the plank was connected, we were down it. Titan especially wanted Off The Boat.
Not a fan of boats, my Titan. Never had been.
Needless to say, my very relieved stallion pranced at having his hooves on solid ground again, so it took me a second to get him under control.
Perhaps because of my preoccupation, I didn’t immediately realize people were milling about. Why were there people here at all?
I’d ordered this whole place evacuated, but dockworkers came up to help tie off the ships, which I hadn’t expected.
The dockhands were doing their jobs, but…
I’d never seen a dockworker without a mouth full of tobacco and choice words.
These men worked without even looking up.
They weren’t dressed right, either. In fact, they wore little better than rags.
I’d expect someone from Cabbage Patch to dress like this, not Wood’s Cross citizens.
Then one of them did look up, briefly, to concentrate on tying something off, and I saw his eyes.
Zinos damn her. Valentina had arrived before us.
Despair seized me. I hadn’t moved fast enough.
I hadn’t protected everyone from her. She’d clearly been playing chess while I was playing checkers, bringing more people up with her than I’d anticipated.
I’d wring her neck for that, but later. I had to get around them somehow right now.
This was a delaying tactic, and I refused to let it work.
I seized Captain Rowan by the arm. “The dockworkers are possessed. We’re likely surrounded. Spread the word quietly and get ready to take down anyone possessed immediately.”
His eyes grew hard, jaw clenching, but he didn’t say a single word. He dipped his head and then turned, hurrying to the nearest knights and ordering them to guard my back.
I turned on Titan’s back, looking about me uneasily.
Here on the edge of the docks, I felt very exposed.
The docks were strictly used for business purposes, since the logging community of Wood’s Cross was nearby, and to serve as point of contact for Berengar.
The docks were very sturdy as a result, made from a mix of stone and large timbers, and kept in excellent shape, since the whole economy of the town depended on them.
All that said, there weren’t more than a dozen buildings here, and they all felt eerily empty.
A dense copse of trees ringed the area behind the buildings, also completely silent.
Anyone who spent time outdoors could tell you that if you were near woods that were entirely silent—no birdsong, no insect noises—then the odds of a major predator being in those woods was very high and to run.
Unfortunately, I had a feeling I knew what the predator was.
Taking my bow in hand, I eased an arrow out of my quiver tied to the pommel and nocked it.
Sir Osbourne leaned in closer, whispering, “Do you see something over there, Your Majesty?”
“No,” I admitted quietly, although I was certainly looking for it. “But there’s no noises coming from those woods.”
Everyone within earshot froze and turned to stare suspiciously into the trees. Ha, they knew exactly what I meant. My people weren’t stupid.
I did keep one eye on my ships, making sure all my troops were getting off properly, as only half were off, from what I saw.
While that was fast, it might not be fast enough.
A part of me grew alarmed when people started coming out of the buildings.
They were all very clearly from Cabbage Patch as well, the emaciation an obvious marker.
I would estimate a good one hundred people, and while a few might have been loggers—I say this because of the axes carried on their shoulders—I believed they’d mostly been shipped here.
It was very much not good how many people were coming out of the buildings, heading for the docks.
Shit, no, they weren’t going to let us off-load peacefully.
They’d hit in the next few minutes and take advantage of the situation.
We weren’t in any state to properly fight off a coordinated attack right now.
Disembarking in rank and file gets people off quickly, but we needed a minute to get into formation once we were on land.
“Sir Osbourne,” I said, shifting my grip on the bow. “Get some holy oil or water ready. You too, Sir Collins.”
Sir Collins reached into a pocket even as he asked, “You think we can reverse the possession?”
“Try first. If you have to kill them, do.” It would likely come down to death for a few people. It always did, somehow, and I tried not to feel guilty. Such was the nature of war. You had to safeguard yourself first and foremost.
Near the gangplank of my ship, a yell broke out, and I could see a fight start.
The second we all realized the status quo had broken, all hell broke loose.
The people who had been steadily walking near us attacked like the possessed marionettes they were, diving for us, holding anything sharp they could lay hands on.
A few targeted me specifically, but my guards intervened before I could even shout a warning.
Fortunately, word had quickly spread, and my people fended off the possessed easily, throwing oil and holy water at them. The possessed people screamed as oil hit skin and I could only hope it meant they could be saved.
I had bigger fish to fry.
I’d seen these tactics before, knew the villagers were meant to draw my attention there, to the docks, so I’d turn my back on the woods. The Demon King’s army had employed this tactic routinely. It often worked, sadly, because it was human nature to react to the problem right in front of you.
After surviving this tactic so many times, I knew better. I let my soldiers, priests, knights, and mages focus on the immediate problem.
Titan half reared as I turned him quickly, facing the woods once more, and it was a good thing I did. A flash of clothes darted between the trees. Someone was moving, and moving quickly.
I lifted my bow, aiming carefully, not where I saw the figure moving but ahead.
Just enough ahead my arrow had time to reach the target.
It was a tricky thing, firing at something already in motion, but I was an old hand at it.
I waited, waited, needing the right feeling, for when my instincts knew it was the perfect moment to release.
Now.
I let the arrow loose and knew it was out of my hands. I could only pray it hit.
“Your Majesty, what—” Sir Collins started in confusion.
The woods exploded.
People sprinted out of the woods, straight for us. Old men, young girls, every gender and age, all with that vacant look in their eyes. Some of them were clearly Ascorian from their dress, another hundred altogether.
I swore. Valentina had been planning this for months if she had brought this many people from Ascor with her. Either she’d had help from other cultists to get all of these people here, or she’d brought them instead of a retinue. I wasn’t sure which. Neither was a good option.
My knights moved to protect my flank, but I ignored them and called out an order to the soldiers nearby. “Remember, try not to kill them! Anoint their foreheads! Hold them down bodily if you have to! Every person saved here is less power for the portal opening!”
Several saluted quickly in acknowledgement, but their focus was on the people only yards away from them.
My attention was past them completely. I had registered the people running, of course, but my full attention was on the person I’d shot. They’d stumbled to a halt when the arrow struck their side but, interestingly enough, had just yanked the arrow out and kept running.
Now, some people were strong enough to do this, but normally, a person wouldn’t yank out an arrow and keep running.
They’d try to stem the blood by tying something around the wound.
Something about the behavior said demon to me.
Were they a demon host? A possessed soul wouldn’t be able to do that.
It meant the demon portal might well be open, and fear swept over me. Was I too late?
Gods above, please tell me I wasn’t too late! I didn’t want to relive this nightmare!
No, no, focus on what you could do in the moment. Taking the demon down, or at least slowing it down, would only help us. I lifted my bow once more, this time even more focused. A headshot would be splendid but might be hard to manage with the cover of the trees.
I saw the slender, short frame in a dark cape running, running, flitting between the trunks of the trees.
They slowed for a fraction of a second, distracted by the battle now breaking out.
I didn’t take my eyes from them to see how my soldiers fared.
I trusted them to do as I had instructed. No, my prey was there.
My fingers released the string, the arrow flying free once more. I knew it would hit the second it took to the air and smiled in a grim sort of satisfaction.
Sir Collins muttered, “What are you even trying to hit— Gods above!”
He knew what I was trying to hit now. The bloodcurdling scream of my target, one of rage and pain, was a pretty good hint.
Once again, however, they yanked the arrow out. This time out of their chest! They had to be a demon to be able to do that and recover. Dammit, demons, even demons hosted in a human body, were notoriously difficult to kill.