Siege State

It wasn’t long before the rest of the group began to hear the barks themselves. They drifted in on the wind, weaker than those created by the wind sprites though more natural sounding than them, and obviously coming from a separate source.

The remaining three wind sprites danced maliciously in the air, playing their own recordings of the barks. They looked gleeful. They knew all they had to do was wait.

Several days before, Darius had explained that grass sharks were some of only a few predators in the Grounds that did not usually kill by ambush. They were powerful enough, fast enough, and tough enough that they didn’t need to bother. They had ridiculous endurance too, to go with their other attributes. They could simply run their prey down.

The group stayed in place. There was nowhere to run. No more defensible place they could possibly reach. There were only two options: stay and fight, or run and die.

Tom took care of the remaining three sprites, dispersing them with Agony and Hush. It was too late though. By the time he had killed them all, the distant barks stopped momentarily, and then rose into a chorus of eerie, echoing howls.

“They have our scent,” Darius said. His face was slack, his eyes slightly wild. It was incredibly discomfiting to see the perpetually arrogant healer so out of sorts. He listened for a few moments longer. “The pack …it is large. We have only minutes.”

Tom was not going to go down without a fight. He had hunted a drake, solo, in the Deep. He had infiltrated behind orc siege lines. He had fought orc chieftains, and won. He refused to give up. He refused to even be intimidated.

“Which direction, Meri?” he asked. Her hawk’s eyes, combined with her Ideal of Senses, were far better than his owls’. The squirrely scout looked like she wanted to bolt, but she pointed off the north-east.

“Tanya!” he snapped. The merchant jumped. “Enchantments, now! Whatever you have! In the grass before the road.” She hopped to do as told.

“Wait! Sorry. These too,” he said, and dumped a handful of enchanted objects out of his spatial storage. He didn’t have many enchanted traps, but he’d rather use them than die.

“Darius! No fucking around!” he yelled. The healer snapped out of his reverie, some colour coming back into his face. “We’re going to need a healer, understand?”

Darius looked like he wanted to snap at him, just for a moment, then visibly swallowed his ego. “Yes, I understand. We should not be mounted though, Tom. The grass sharks, they specialise in pulling down the horses in the Grounds. We must fight them on foot.”

“You heard the man! Dismount!” Everyone slid from their saddles. Tanya subbed her mule, and Eli and Rosa subbed their horses. Markus’ lion and Meri’s wolf moved to the frontline with Sesame, joining Eli, Markus, and Tom.

Tanya finished setting the enchantments off the road, and hurried back to the group. The barking was much closer now, close enough to gauge its speed. The sharks were closing fast.

“Rosa, we need fire. Extending out to either side, if you would. Doesn’t need to be massive, just big enough to make them run through the enchantments. Now, please.”

He disliked being stern with her, but she took the tone without complaint. Two walls of fire blossomed and spread to either side of where Tanya had been working. Rosa gave them a push, and the walls began to creep slowly away from them.

Meri and Rosa drew their bows and strung arrows. Rosa concentrated over one, and after a moment, it began to register to Tom’s mana sense. And grew. And kept growing. Tom began to worry she’d overload the capacity enchantments when she finally stopped feeding it.

Tanya, pulled an enchanted object from a spatial storage, a simple enough length of steel with a flat stock on one end. It was something Cub had been working on before they’d left Wayrest. The man had wasted no time getting stuck into his work with his new Ideal.

Darius stood with the backline, though in front of them. He had his sword drawn, his usual determined expression fixed back upon his face. Everyone else looked grim.

The barks grew louder.

“Watch for their razor wind,” Darius said, not softly, but just loud enough that they could all hear. “When they leap, they will release it. The shield will stop the first one, maybe two. The rest will land. We will take damage.”

Another round of howls rose into the air, high-pitched and oddly melodic. The grass itself seemed to shiver.

“Put your familiars behind you. They should charge and free you if you get knocked down.”

Lion, wolf, and bear shuffled positions, standing behind Markus, Eli, and Tom, respectively. Between barks, Tom could hear excited panting.

Tom’s mind flicked through his wisp storage until he found the two poisons he was looking for. He withdrew them, popped the corks, and downed them. Exhilarating energy rushed through his body. His perceptions grew clearer. Strength flooded his limbs. He minutely adjusted his balance, now aware it was not quite perfect.

“Their bellies are softer. Their paws and tails are weaker. I will try to disrupt their charge with Granny. They are almost on us.”

The panting and barking blended into one sound. Tom caught sight of movement in the grasses with Sus and Sol. He thought for a moment, and then released the rest of Sere’s bodies into the air, retaining only one subbed within him. Sparrows burst into the sky, summoned from the tattoo on the back of his neck.

“Hold,” Darius called.

The sound of paws drumming on soil raised a steady, rhythmic beat. Painful sounding whines began, as if the beasts were so intent on the kill that they were fighting against the very limits of their bodies.

“Hold.”

Tom saw them. The grass parted in wakes as they charged, obscuring most of their bodies. Tails bobbed in the air, long and sandy coloured, tipped with wicked points like spearheads. At a quick count, there were more than ten. They were moving faster than Tom would have thought possible.

“On my mark, Tanya,” Tom said, realising the woman would not react fast enough when they appeared, given their speed.

“Three.

“Two.

“Mark!”

The grass sharks exploded from the grass at the side of the road, faster than Tom had seen any predator move in the Deep. It was breathtaking.

The sharks were strange creatures. To Tom, they looked like one of the fabled tigers of the southern jungles, large, powerful, and feline. There the resemblance ended.

They had flattened bodies, low to the ground, and wide, flat heads. Malevolent eyes glared at them from beneath heavily scaled brows. Two large sabre teeth dropped from their upper jaws. Their scales were thick, overlapping, and pointed: beige, with an odd reflective green sheen to them. It looked like mere contact with their bodies would cause lacerations. Their six short, strong legs each ended in a huge paw. Their tails were twice as long again as their bodies, thick at the base and trailing out to points as deadly sharp as any sword.

The leading few sharks leaped at them, their powerful legs bunching and sending them hurtling towards the group, razor sharp claws extended and fangs bared.

Darius’ shield flared into life. The lead shark slapped against the shield, scrabbling at it mid-air like a dropped cat. It released a storm of wild, claw-like green mana-blades from its stomach, and then fell back to the ground.

The second shark released its burst before it struck, and the already abused shield shattered, spilling its healing energy uselessly over the uninjured party.

Then everything happened at once.

The next few sharks tensed to jump, but the ground beneath them came alive, reaching up to snare them and foul their movements. They stumbled, but the next in the pack were so agile they had no trouble navigating past their struggling fellows.

They were just about past the obstruction when Tanya triggered the enchantments. It was difficult to tell what exactly happened. There was a flash of multicoloured light, and Tom was vaguely aware of thin, razor-like cables exploding upwards.

Four of the grass sharks were completely obliterated. A fine red mist ballooned into the air. The overpowering scent of blood, cut grass, and acrid smoke filled the air.

The first two jumpers righted themselves. One released a discordant, high-pitched roar and lashed out with its tail. The other gathered itself to jump, the range so short it would be more of a tackle. The rest of the pack burst through the red haze off the road, spitting and snarling.

Eli intercepted the tail whip with a Blade skill, but the ephemeral length of steel left the tail with no injury. Two arrows struck: one skittered off the thick scales of the beast’s shoulders, the other sunk deep into the softer skin before its haunch, then exploded into flames.

The shark screamed, a chunk of its belly and leg missing. Flames spread over its scales, but seemed to do little damage. It began lashing out wildly with its tail. Eli scrambled to deflect the strikes.

Tom linked himself to the other with Misery just before it jumped. As it launched itself he followed up with Agony. He crouched low as he could, and Sesame roared, unleashing his storm of rock shards. Most bounced harmlessly off its scales. Some few found purchase, but did not sink deep.

Tom rose from his crouch, casting Wild Boar Strike upwards at an angle. It struck the leaping shark in its upper body and head, and it flipped over mid-air and smashed onto its back.

Tom stepped forward and stabbed it through the throat with his spear. Pink lightning coursed down the length of it, flowing into the creature’s wound. It writhed in pain, its massive paws flailing, and Tom only managed to avoid its claws by dint of Sweet Suffering boosting his agility and reflexes. The creature managed to free its tail from where it had become trapped underneath it when it fell, whipping it around, but Sesame caught it in his powerful jaws and held it steady, even as it beat upon the bear’s enchanted armour. The shark gurgled as it died.

Tom looked up to see another shark launching itself at Eli, claws extended. The veteran guard held his ground, stabbing outwards and releasing a blade skill at its neck. The grass shark, in turn, released its razor wind. The flurry of green mana-blades lashed the guard, and then the grass shark hit him, bearing him to the ground.

Tom cast Hush, Agony and Misery on the next shark as it flew through the air at him. He braced his spear against the ground, and angled it at the creature’s belly. With superlative reflexes, it batted the shaft aside as it rocketed towards Tom, then an instant later, it was atop him.

Claws scrabbled across his enchanted plate, but it held. Tom sent a fervent prayer of thanks to Scriber and Cub for their work. Here and there, the claws found exposed gaps between his armour and slashed him, but his regeneration from Sweet Suffering quickly closed the wounds. Without the ability to quickly disembowel him, the shark was at an impasse.

Tom stored his spear and retrieved his axe. He drew his knees up as far as he could. A moment later, Sesame barrelled into the shark, and the two beasts rose together, powerful limbs jostling for supremacy as the bear tried to force the shark backwards, and off Tom.

Tom rose into a crouch between the two. He ducked a swipe from one of the shark’s middle legs, and then chopped his axe into the joint of one of its rearmost sets. As the shark buckled, the leg giving out under its weight and Sesame’s force, Tom rolled out from between them. As he went, he struck it again, behind its knee joint.

As Tom rolled free, he flinched. A shark was already flying through the air to pin him once more. He began to stand, to turn to bring his axe to bear, but he knew it would be too late.

A shield flared to life between them. The shark’s razor wind blustered against it harmlessly, and the shark itself struck it and fell away a moment later. A cool healing light poured across Tom, and the lingering wounds he’d taken finished sealing.

Behind him, Sesame roared directly into the snarling grass shark’s face, and it collapsed, killed instantly from the point blank blast of shards to its head.

Tom looked for Darius, and found him crouched over Eli, one hand pressed to his chest, the other flung out towards Tom. His face was locked in a grimace.

Eli was unconscious, and looked like he was in a dire state. Deep lacerations covered most of his body. The shark that had mauled him had been pushed back by Meri’s wolf, and Markus and his lion. Together, they looked close to finishing it.

Four other grass sharks were amongst them. Rosa and Meri were peppering them with arrows, with Rosa pausing to ensure two of the creatures continued burning under her flames. Tanya dropped to one knee, raising the odd enchanted weapon, and sighted down its length.

There was a snapping sound, and one of two sharks that had made it past their frontline slumped to the ground. Tom couldn’t see how it had died exactly. The weapon in Tanya’s hand hissed, steam rising all along its length, and she stowed it and retrieved a bow.

Three remained. Darius released a shout of exertion, and all three were knocked back. Their low bodies, powerful legs, and broad paws ensured they were not flung away, but it gave everyone a second’s reprieve.

Markus and the familiars finished their shark, and Tom, Sesame, and them sandwiched the last two sharks between them. The two cornered beasts fought ferociously, aware the odds had tipped against them and that they were trapped.

They whittled them down, kept them contained, until eventually Tom knocked one fully into the other with another Wild Boar Strike. A column of white hot fire exploded from beneath the tangled pair. Their shrieks of agony quickly died, replaced by the quiet sound of cooking flesh.

Tom quickly took stock of the situation. His body felt full of lightning, still running high off of the ingested poisons, and combined with the adrenaline of the fight. Everyone was breathing heavily. Eli was still unconscious on the ground, bleeding from multiple wounds as Darius pumped Healing into him. Tanya rushed over and began working on him with her Triage as well.

Markus looked like he’d taken a nasty stab wound to the meat of his thigh at some stage, and was covered in otherwise minor cuts. For that matter, now that he looked more closely at Darius, it appeared the healer had a deep wound in his side too. Rosa, Meri and Tanya were uninjured, if shaken.

Tom released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. It had been close, but they’d won. If even one more of the group had been knocked unconscious or, Goddess forbid, killed, then all of them would have died.

Close. Too close. And now they needed to get moving as quickly a-

“Tom,” Meri said, and the panic in her tone snapped his attention to her. He immediately looked to Eli next, thinking he had died, but Darius and Tanya appeared to have stabilised him. Tanya was working on Darius and Markus, now.

His attention cycled to his birds, and he immediately saw the issue.

Orcs. Stalking towards them through the grass.