Heart of Dorkness

Scourge Twenty-Two - Aliven’t

The reaction along the caravan is nearly instantaneous. A few of the Big Hill guys scream, some others shout orders atop those, and suddenly the caravan grows much closer together as Ran pushes his cart alongside the cart just ahead of us.

With all the carts packing in closer together under the snap of leather reins, the caravan becomes a much smaller target.

“Spears and shields!” Teo shouts. “Spears and shields! Aim for the throats!”

No one is giving me or my friends any orders, which.. Might be for the best. I’m not sure just how well we’d fit into a traditional spear line.

There aren’t enough Big Hill Lions to form a proper cordon around the carts, and I think everyone realises that at the same time. So, almost as one, everyone jumps onto a cart and gets ready to fight from above.

It’s not a terrible idea.

I take one precious second to look around us, to really study the environment while my core roils and my magic comes to the fore.

The two priests ahead are still blocking the road, with only Esteban between them and the front of the caravan. They have that third guy with them, the hulking giant in the wraps, and I can’t help but feel like he’s going to be trouble.

The zombies crawling out of the surroundings are going to be trouble too. I count about thirty to our left, and I imagine there are just as many on the other side. We’re going to be outnumbered by about four to one if more of them come out to block our rear.

“Stay close to Val,” Felix says.

“Of course,” Bianca replies.

I blink. “What’s that mean?”

Felix glances my way, and I recognize the look she’s giving me, though I never got the ‘of course you don’t get it’ look from Felix before. “We’re keeping you safe.”

“I can keep myself safe,” I say.

Esme pats my shoulder. “You’re the princess here. It’s normal.”

I work my jaw, but I can’t think of anything to say. “Who put you up to this?” I ask.

“Your mom,” Felix says.

I ball my hands into fists. “That’s not fair.”

“She knew you’d get into some sort of trouble, so she told Esme and I to keep you safe,” Felix says.

I glare at her, but her grin only widens. So I turn to Bianca. “And what about you?”

“Common sense?” Bianca says. “I can’t imagine your mother reacting kindly to my family were you to get hurt, captured, or killed. It’s just logical to assume that dying in your defence is preferable to living after you die.”

I try to say something in my defence, but all that comes out is a grumbly mess.

I have the worst friends!

“Fine then,” I say as I cross my arms. “I’ll just sit here and be all nice and safe.”

“Hey, we could probably still use your help,” Felix says. “I don’t know how to kill zombies.”

“But what if I chip a nail?” I ask.

I don’t quite know why I feel so betrayed all of a sudden. It makes sense that Mom would ask my friends to do that, and I guess it would be weird if they said no. But I can take care of myself! I’m just as tough as my friends. I might not be as quick with magic as Esme, or as quick with... everything else as Felix, but I can stand up for myself.

And even without my friends, I’m not entirely alone.

I fall down to one knee and reach into my cloak. It only takes a moment to find a few little friends tucked away and hidden on me. I bring them up, close to my mouth, and push my intent into my words. “Go into the forest and call out to any monsters in the region. I need them to rush over and kill any undead they find. Leave the living alone. Go!”

I drop my hand over the edge of the cart, and my little friends zip off every which way.

They’re sure to find some monsters in the area, but it’s going to be a gamble on whether or not those monsters will reach us in time to help or not.

The zombies don’t attack with any sort of formation or thought behind their actions. One of them stumbles over to the carts and flings his arms out towards the Big Hill Lion atop the cart. It’s the kind of wild swing a kid might try while rough-housing. No finesse, just a big bash that the man its trying to strike avoids with a simple sidestep.

The zombie is sent flopping back with a gash cut out of the side of its face a moment later as the mercenary stabs it from above.

That doesn’t kill it though.

Others start to move up all around us, attacking with the same clumsy strikes, but every hit against the side of the carts creates a dull thump that sounds painful. They have no regard for their own safety, and I’m pretty sure they’re hitting hard enough to really hurt.

“Alright,” Felix says as she pulls out a pair of long knives from under her cloak. “How do we aliven’t these guys?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Esme asks.

Felix frowns a bit and gestures to the zombies. “How do we aliven’t them.”

“Aliven’t?” I repeat.

“Well, they’re undead, aren’t they? We can’t just kill them, they’re already dead,” Felix says.

“Yeah, I know, but... where did you come up with that word?”

“Common sense?” Felix tries.

Esme and I share a look of dawning horror. “There’s nothing common or sensical in what you said,” Esme says.

“What do you mean? It makes perfect sense! Undead means not dead, aliven’t means not alive,” Felix says. She’s gesturing at the undead who are all getting increasingly close to the carts. They’re forming a tight circle around our position, and I don’t think the donkeys appreciate their presence much.

“Girls!” Teo shouts over. “Argue less, kill more!”

“You can’t kill them, they’re already dead,” Felix grumbles under her breath. I think we all hear her, but none of us says anything.

There’s a whole flank of the caravan open on our side, with only Ran and one other defending it. I concentrate for a moment. It doesn’t take much effort to pull up Disgust. The zombie’s smell is enough to start that up, and the look of them pushes me the rest of the way.

I summon a brace of dark darts, each a handspan long and pointed on one end. Once they’re above me, I fling them forwards with my will and impale the nearest zombies.

The sight of the darts plunging into heads and chests is enough to make my core surge with even more disgust.

Esme glances back, then nods, mostly to herself. “I’m going to try for more precise strikes, wherever I see the Lions weakening. Do you think you three can take care of those on this side?”

“We can likely manage,” Bianca says. She stretches her hands before her, and with just the faintest frown, releases a wave of fire that roars out ahead of her and burns across a dozen zombies. It reaches all the way across the ditch and singes the grass on the other side.

It’s an impressive bit of magic, but it’s undirected, and for all that it’s covering a wide area, it’s not doing much.

That’s the problem with fire magic. It’s big and flashy and painful, but it doesn’t kill well. At least, that’s what my books have taught me.

“I’m feeling kind of useless here,” Felix says. She darts down to swipe at the neck of a burning zombie next to our cart, and a few quick blows chops its head off. Then she kicks it out and into the field. “Going to have to take them one at a time. At least this is kind of fun.”

Someone screams down the line of carts, and we all turn to see one of the younger Big Lions being dragged off the side of his cart by a few zombies, one of which has a spear stuck right through it.

“Damn it,” Esme curses under her breath.

There’s a quick snap-crack, and a burst of light before one of the zombies’ head bursts apart like a tomato meeting a hammer.

Two other Lions rush over and pull the guy free, but that leaves a few spots unguarded for a couple of critical seconds, and the zombie tide starts to pull themselves up and onto the carts.

This, I realise, isn’t a normal fight, this is a battle of attrition, and by the looks of it, the numbers not being in our favour is going to cost us.

An explosion out ahead from where Esteban is fighting one of the priests reminds me that this whole thing is a lot nastier than it looks.

I can’t afford to play this too easily.

***