Heart of Dorkness

Scourge Twenty-Three - Princessy

“Hey, jump over, come on, abandon that one,” Teo says as he helps one of the Lions from one of the carts near the rear. We’re losing ground, insofar as we have ground to lose at all. The carts at the rear are being abandoned, the mercenaries all leaping forwards to join up on the middlemost carts. It means a tighter formation, fewer gaps for zombies to reach us through.

We’re getting better at killing zombies, more and more of them falling to the ground around us and piling up so that the next zombie has to climb over a corpse or two to get to us. But more are showing up from the grass. Not as many, but enough that I’m not sure who’ll win a battle of attrition.

“So, uh,” Felix says. “Anyone going to point out the obvious?”

“That we should stop killing the useless undead and focus on the two obvious necromancers controlling them?” I ask.

“Yeah, that.”

I glance over to the front of the caravan. Last I’d looked, Esteban was fighting the priests of Altum. Now he’s being pushed back by one priest while the other stands further back, chanting something while being guarded by that hulking guy.

“Teo!” I call out. The man whips his head around. “What?”

“We’re going to go kill the necromancer in charge,” I say. “It’ll make things easier, I think.”

As far as I’m aware, undead aren’t like monsters. Monsters will, for the most part, act according to their instinct. They’ll listen to orders from a much stronger monster (or from me and mom) but for the most part, they just do their own thing.

An undead though, that’s something else.

“Killing them won’t stop the zombies,” Esme says.

“Yeah, but it’ll make them directionless,” I retort.

Teo dashes our conversation apart with a single, “No.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Why not? We’re tough enough, I bet.” A glance back at the necromancer and a twist of my own will and I’m able to see his classes and that of his big bodyguard.

[Abel – Speaker of the Dead – Altum’s Devoted]

Adept Raiser of Altum

Novice Companion of Death

The big guy next to him was interesting too.

[Sacrifice 27 – Many Souled Guardian – Experiment of Altum]

Initiate Guardian

Only one class, and at the lowest possible tier? That was downright strange. The name suggested that whatever was under those wraps wasn’t human either. I’m not too sure what to do about that thing.

I snap my attention back to the edge of the cart as a zombie tries to climb up. With a flick, a pair of dark bolts zip forwards and tear into the zombie’s eyes, forcing its head back and sending it flopping over the edge.

“Come on, Teo, we can make a bigger difference by being out there helping than by staying up here,” I say.

“No,” he says. “We have orders and we’re going to foll--” Teo’s cut off by a roar. It’s a scream of pain and anger that has all of us looking out ahead.

Esteban is stumbling back from the priest he was fighting, teeth bared and his free hand pressing over his leg. There’s a long slice in the sort of battle skirt he’s wearing, with blood pouring out from beneath it to stain his armoured greaves.

The priest is grinning from ear to ear as he shifts around and changes stance. He has a short sword in one hand, little more than a long dagger really, and his other hand is hovering over a waterskin by his hip. The cap’s off, and there’s a hovering ball of water spinning near him.

A Fear cultivator. It makes sense for a priest of Altum.

Esteban roars again and a wave of heat blasts off of him and buffets the priest. Anger magic? But from the looks of it, not particularly strong magic.

“Damnit,” Teo swears as some of the zombies at the front of the caravan peel away and start stumbling towards Esteban.

“Okay, we’re helping down there,” I say.

“I’ll go,” Felix says. “Esme can stay here with you.”

“What? I’m not going to stay behind,” I hiss.

“It’s dangerous, and I have my orders,” Felix says.

“Well, as the princess, I order you to let me go and help,” I snap.

I notice Teo glancing my way. A small slip-up there, but I can’t imagine him making a fuss now of all times.

“Can you do that?” Felix asks. She turns to Esme. “Can she do that?”

“Just go, both of you,” Esme says. “I’ll provide ranged support.”

“I’ll help too,” Bianca says. She notices the look I’m giving her, and is quick to come to her own defence. “I’m not a great fighter, and I’m a novice cultivator at best, but I can use water magic better than any of you, I think. I can disrupt them.”

I only consider it for a moment. She might be right. I’ve never fought someone trying to disrupt my magic. The only Dark magic users I know are Mom and Semper, and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t disrupt my spells so much as just nope them if they tried.

“Okay. Stay behind me. Your first priority is not getting hurt, your second’s not accidentally lighting Felix on fire. She’ll be close to anyone she’s fighting. Your third is attacking the enemy, alright?”

“Understood,” Bianca says.

I nod then gesture to the side of the cart. “Let’s clear the way, girls!”

There are only half a dozen zombies right next to our cart. I create a large disk-shield with some disgust, then use it to shove the undead back. Esme waits until they’re all collected together in a closer group, then she points a finger right at them. Her hair raises, and I can feel my own trying to spring up as well.

A snap fills the air, and I close my eyes a moment before a bright flash shoots out from Esme and connects her to the zombies.

They might be undead, and are likely unable to feel pain, but getting smacked with so much raw lightning’s going to be bad for their unhealth.

A few of the zombies crash down, whatever’s animating them disrupted or destroyed. The others stumble around for a moment, but while they’re singed, they’re not dead.

Felix leaps over the edge of the cart and darts past them and close to the edge of the road. “Come on,” she says.

I jump down after her, then turn to make sure that Bianca can make it down safely. Her dress isn’t very practical for the sort of acrobatics we’re doing.

Felix ducks under the swipe of a zombie and casually plants her dagger into the back of its neck. A small shove later and its falling back against the others, properly dead.

The road isn’t entirely clear ahead. Esteban is backing away in a large circle, only engaging with the zombies trying to pen him in when he can take them on one-on-one. That usually results in one less zombie to deal with, but he needs to pay constant attention to the priest he’s fighting.

I need to make a choice. Help Esteban, or attack the other priest directly.

I only hesitate for a moment before making my choice. “Esteban first,” I say.

Pulling my dark shield back, I have it hover over my shoulders while creating more dark bolts. I let a few loose as we rush around the front of the caravan. Mostly I try to pin them in the back of the heads of any zombie we pass. I miss a few times, but some of my hits take out some zombies, and that’ll mean that much less pressure on the Big Hill Lions on the carts.

Esteban’s eyes widen as Felix, who’s sprinting ahead of us, leaps off the ground and crashes into a zombie knee-first.

She and the zombie crash into the ground, but she rolls right back up to her feet and darts for the priest, a huge grin across her face.

I’m a bit slower to catch up, but I try to make up for it with added lethality. I skid to a stop next to Esteban and split my swarm of darts into three, each group slamming into a zombie point-first. The three flop to the ground, holes punched into their everything. “You okay?” I ask.

Esteban frowns. “I’m fine,” he says. “I appreciate the rescue. Go back to the cart, I’ll finish this one off.”

“Nah,” I say. “Bianca, burn them. Esteban, go help Felix. I’ll do mid-range support.”

The priest is backing up under Felix’s attacks, but he’s skilled enough with his sword that my friend can’t quite get to him without being parried or blocked.

He whips his free hand around, and a long tendril of water snaps out towards Felix.

My shield moves between the water and my friend. Felix doesn’t even bother flinching, she just keeps attacking as if she knows that the enemy’s spells won’t hurt her.

I grin. We’re finally going to turn this around.

***