Shadows in the Smoke - Chapter 43 - Overwhelming Numbers

  “One of the cornerstones of society in the Republic is our system of guilds. Guild members pay a small fee for their membership and in return their guild provides them with support if they find themselves in difficulty and helps to maintain proper quality standards across the Republic. I myself am a member of the Writers’ Guild.”

  The Struggle for Freedom by Bjarne Midthun

  =====

  Ester leaned over the wall and gestured at the ghoul she spotted.

  “Gr?nn ai’diwaien.” The blast of air slammed the creature back to the ground, its impact muffled amidst the chaos of the battlefield. She could barely hear anything over the soldiers’ shouts and screams and the crack of their guns.

  The ghoul she’d blasted off the wall stood up again, its movements awkward on broken legs, but they didn’t stop it from flinging itself back at the wall.

  Ester shuddered. “Saig.”

  Fire engulfed the creature. She couldn’t kill them all though.

  “Saig.” She burnt another off the wall.

  Beside her, a soldier took aim and fired, sending another ghoul falling back to the ground.

  “Saig.” Another tumbled towards the ground, burning to a crisp as it fell.

  Another soldier leaned over the wall to take a shot. Before Ester could shout a warning, he screamed as a ghoul grabbed him and pulled him over the parapet. They both fell in a tangled heap, but only the monster got up, to fling itself back at the walls.

  “Saig.”

  One of the undead crested the battlements and Vegard punched it so hard its head vanished in a shower of blood.

  “Saig.”

  A creature threw itself over the wall and onto the parapet, leaping straight onto one of the soldiers. He screamed and writhed as its teeth bit into him, tearing chunks of flesh from his neck.

  “Diwaien.” Ester decapitated it with a word, but the soldier was already dying, his blood pumping from his ravaged neck.

  She didn’t have time to think about that. Ester leaned out over the wall again before throwing herself straight back with a shriek, barely keeping her feet, as one of the creatures nearly grabbed her.

  “Gan.” As it crested the wall, she sent it flying tens of yards away into open air.

  Ester took a step towards the battlements, ready to start burning the creatures off the walls again, but her distraction had cost them. A ghoul leaped onto the parapet and she spun to face it.

  “Saig.” It didn’t even have time to move before fire engulfed it.

  A whisper of movement behind her.

  Ester spun, too slow. It was too close, rotting fingers warped into claws descended on her.

  A fist exploded out of the creature’s chest. Vegard yanked his arm out of it and then threw it over the wall with unnatural strength.

  Ester didn’t even have time to acknowledge him. Another ghoul lifted its head above the wall.

  She didn’t bother to speak. A gesture and its head disappeared.

  The horde seemed to be endless. Ester killed them, one at a time, but in such numbers that it was hard to believe they could keep coming. Despite that, they seemed to be avoiding climbing in front of her. She wasn’t sure they could actually think, but they weren’t coming up her section of wall anymore.

  Around her though, they were coming over the walls. The Republican soldiers shot and stabbed at them with their guns, but half the time that didn’t even stop them. To Ester’s side, Vegard tore the head off one of the undead and then grabbed another before it could reach him. He tore its arm off and then headbutted it hard enough to cave its face in.

  He didn’t have time to turn to face the third that leaped on him from behind, its claws already digging into his back as its snapping teeth descended on his neck.

  Ester didn’t think. “Daabru.” She closed her fist as she spoke and, with a wet crunch that was audible even over the chaos of the battle, her spell crushed the ghoul into a ball.

  Vegard spun, took in the destroyed creature in a fraction of a second and met Ester’s eyes. Almost as soon as they’d made eye contact, he turned away, sprinting towards another ghoul that had made it up to them.

  Should she have let him die? Ester grimaced at the unworthy thought and burnt another creature to a crisp. She was better than that.

  With the pressure on her little section of the wall reduced, she had a moment to take stock and breath. She might have been holding off the undead, but the soldiers around her were suffering. They couldn’t keep the horde back. As she looked around her, another went down screaming under gnashing teeth as his comrades backed off, thrusting with the knives on the end of their guns.

  Vegard had gone right. He could look after the soldiers that way. She started moving left. A ghoul looked up from the corpse of a soldier and flung itself towards her.

  “Saig.” Ester obliterated it mid-leap.

  She needed to be careful not to get close though. Vegard might be able to punch the things to death. If one of them got its hands on her she’d just die. The soldiers were actually dying though. There was no if for them. She’d just have to be careful.

  As Ester made her way along the battlements, she killed every undead monstrosity she saw. She passed terrified soldiers who straightened up at the sight of her, visibly pulling themselves back together.

  She’d thought she’d be more frightened, but there was nothing. Just ice cold calm and energy hammering through her veins. She’d have time to be scared later.

  A ghoul flung itself over the wall. Her magic caught it in mid-air without a word and pushed it back out into the air.

  A sound made her spin. She raised her hand, “Saig.” Fire blasted the creature trying to sneak up on her.

  Ester wanted to call down lightning from the sky or obliterate the undead with huge blasts of fire, but it wouldn’t work. They were too spread out and the ones that made it to the top of the walls were too close to the Republican soldiers. It wouldn’t help anyone if she just ended up killing her own allies.

  A clump of soldiers were slowly retreating towards her as they stabbed at a trio of undead with their gun-knives. Ester stood on the tips of her toes to see past them properly.

  “Xànjar diwaien’fa.” Air solidified into razor sharp shards that sliced through the ghouls as if they were made of butter.

  =====

  The ghoul launched itself forward just as Stefan pulled the trigger on his gun. An unearthly fire burned in its eyes and its teeth, sharpened to unnatural points, gnashed as its clawed hands extending towards him. The ball blasted straight through its chest and out the other side, leaving a gaping wound that didn’t bleed.

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  The monstrosity stumbled and fell at his feet, its jump ruined by the impact. It didn’t stop it though. The ghoul still scrabbled forward, desperate to tear into his flesh. With a shriek he slammed a booted foot into its face before stabbing down with his bayonet again and again.

  This wasn’t how things were meant to have been. Garrison duty was a safe option. Especially somewhere as impenetrable as Fort Statvinger. Sit out his tour in safety, if not comfort, and then back to civilisation. That was what was meant to have happened. His family had already given enough to the Republic. One brother to the undead. His father and an uncle against the Empire. How much more were they going to ask of them?

  That was what the money his grandfather had slipped to the recruitment captain had been meant to ensure. A safe, peaceful posting far from any fighting. Not this!

  The moment the ghoul stopped moving, he frantically started working to reload his gun. His hands trembled as he fumbled with his pouch, pulled out the paper cartridge and shoved it into the muzzle. Then the wad and ball. He almost dropped the ball with numb, cold fingers that didn’t want to work properly.

  Further along the wall, someone screamed and was abruptly cut off. Thunder roared through the air. Perhaps cannons or maybe one of the Arcanists giving it back to the undead.

  Stefan didn’t care. He needed to reload before he was eaten or worse. He pulled out the ramrod.

  A wave of heat washed over him as some spell detonated. The wards were still holding at least. They were probably all fucked anyway, but if those went down then the undead would just blast the fort clean with magic and that would be that.

  Off to his right, a series of bursts of fire briefly bathed the walls with flickering light. That might be Vegard, but more likely the crown-licker. She wasn’t as bad as the undead, he could grudgingly admit that, but it was a fucking disgrace that she’d been allowed into the Republic at all, let alone being treated like a guest here, eating into their food supplies and injuring good Citizens without any punishment. As if she was back in the Empire where nobleborn could do what they liked.

  With a decisive movement, Stefan slammed the ramrod down the barrel before stowing it again. Moments later he was ready to fire again. Safe for one more shot, maybe.

  He kept his eyes open as he looked around. He had no intention of dying here in this miserable place, fighting a horrific enemy. Leave that to other people, he had a life to live!

  The undead attack seemed to have slackened off for a moment. He slumped slightly. It was lucky, because he was already gasping for breath. Actually he thought he might have pissed himself too. Then, movement caught his eye.

  Stefan raised his gun. There was something coming towards him, along the walls. He almost didn’t see the ghoul that flung itself over the parapet, but before he could aim and fire it quite literally exploded, showering him with rotting meat.

  A figure slowly emerged from the dim light, coming straight towards him at a steady, relaxed pace. The way a nobleborn might walk through their palace grounds.

  The crown-licker. She looked terrifying in the glow of the witchlights. Smoke from guns and her own magic wreathed her and her long, dark hair seemed to almost writhe as she looked around for more targets. He could have sworn there was even a faint green glow to her eyes. She might as well be one of the butchers of Grathbridge, right there in front of him in the flesh. Just seeing her there made him feel sick. An awkward mixture of anger and fear churning inside him.

  She spun, frighteningly fast, and gestured. An unseen force bisected a ghoul that had made it up the wall, sending its two halves tumbling down again.

  Without thinking, Stefan raised his gun to his shoulder. He could deal with her right now. One less Mage for the Empire, one less mouth to feed and no chance of that terrifying gaze being turned on him. No more dead Citizens like his father.

  He could do it. He should do it. The Ashen Vow was mad. She’d come here, thrown her weight around and treated the garrison troops like incompetent shits and now she was letting this snake of a girl into the middle of them. His finger tightened on the trigger.

  The Mage turned to face him. Stefan didn’t have the Talent, but as his eyes met hers, he imagined he could see the magic swirling around her, building up to strike at him, to do to him what every nobleborn wanted to do to good Citizens.

  His eyes widened and he shifted his aim, just a fraction, and pulled the trigger.

  The shot whistled past the crown-licker’s head and slammed into the ghoul that had almost crept up on her, sending it tumbling to the ground. A fraction of a second later, something hissed past his own head, far too close for comfort, followed by a wet thunk from behind him.

  Stefan twisted and felt the blood drain from his face. She’d just cut a ghoul in half, right behind him. Centimetres to the left and she’d have cut his throat. She could probably have done that and killed the ghoul at the same time.

  He stood frozen, staring at what had been so close to being his death until he realised she’d almost passed him.

  “Thank you, Citizen.” Her accent was odd and she sounded as cold as he’d expected with her expressionless face. Still, he couldn’t quite resist nodding to her before he got busy reloading his gun. He’d been gifted another chance to survive. He’d better not waste it.

  =====

  Ester paused for breath, resting a hand on the stone parapet. Were the undead simply endless? She’d been going along her section of the walls, killing them wherever she saw them, but it wasn’t enough. She thought she’d managed to clear them off the top of the walls, for now, but they just kept on coming. For every one she killed, it felt like another two climbed up to throw themselves at the Republican soldiers.

  Great Spirits only knew what they’d do if the ghouls got past the walls and were able to hide inside the fort. The soldiers were flagging, clearly exhausted, the surviving ones anyway. She wasn’t feeling much better. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been fighting for, but it felt like an eternity. She could keep going though. She had to. She forced her feet to start moving again.

  Ester stumbled as she caught her foot on an uneven stone just as a ghoul heaved itself above the parapet.

  For a brief, horrifying moment she was nearly face to face with the creature.

  Its teeth were razor sharp points and its claws clung unnaturally to the stone as its dead eyes fixed on her. Its breath stank, a rancid odour of rotting meat and dust.

  “Gan.” Ester blasted it away.

  She wasn’t sure how much longer they could keep the ghouls from overwhelming them. Hopefully the rest of the Republicans were doing better, but the diminishing numbers of soldiers weren’t going to be able to hold them off, despite her best efforts.

  Ester kept moving, doing her best to go up and down the wall, supporting the Republicans wherever she could and destroying any undead that made it to them. It was only a small mercy, but those that did make it seemed to be far more interested in attacking the living than in getting past them and into the fort. Otherwise there’d probably already be an infestation of the creatures all over the fort before the battle was over.

  It was getting hard to see too. The Republicans’ guns made smoke. So did some of her spells and it was blanketing the top of the walls, obscuring both the Republican soldiers and the undead. It gave the creatures another advantage. Both Ester and the soldiers relied on killing them before they could get too close and to do that they needed to see.

  Maybe she could do something about that though. Ester took a deep breath and settled her mind. A quick glance around herself to check that she wasn’t going to be jumped on and she began.

  “Sgoth’fa kelgan’gan diwaien’jel’fjal w?rchell’ai’mar.” It took everything she had to keep the focus and extend her will over a wide enough area, but as the magic spread out from her, the air started to clear. Swirls of colourful magic fluttered through the air and where they’d been, she could see again.

  With a gasp of relief, Ester let the spell fall away and sagged against the parapet. She’d cleared the air for a couple of hundred yards around her, but she didn’t like what she saw. Republican soldiers were gathered into pockets, fending off ghouls, only those closest to her were able to move freely. She wasn’t sure what she could do to save them. Anything too powerful would kill the soldiers as surely as it would stop the undead monsters. She couldn’t do nothing though.

  Ester pulled her thoughts together and forced her mind into shape. She wasn’t going to let the undead win.

  “S—” Claws closing around her arm cut her off mid-word.

  With a terrified yelp she tried to yank her arm back, but the ghoul’s hand was closed around her wrist, claws threatening to dig into her flesh. She barely had a moment to register before it wrenched frighteningly hard, using her arm to haul itself up and bring its teeth closer to her.

  Ester was slammed painfully into the crenelations by the movement, knocking the breath out of her. It was only luck that stopped her from being pulled over the side of the wall to fall to her death.

  There was no time to focus. “Diwaien!” She screamed the word, putting all of her desire to get the creature off her into it, all of her desperate need to live.

  Razor sharp air flashed straight through its teeth, cutting the thing’s head in half. Agony spiked in Ester’s head and the green light of the Weiryd flashed around her, but the ghoul was gone, its hand falling away with the lower half of its body.

  Ester staggered back, away from the parapet, doubled over and clutching at her head even as she tried to keep her eyes open and look around herself. The pounding, stabbing pain in her head was starting to subside and at the same time as the Weiryd faded, but she needed a few seconds. That had been dangerous, putting her full power behind something without any real focus. She could have dropped dead on the spot as her brain turned into a bleeding mess.

  She gasped for air, breathing as deeply as she could while she waited for the pain in her head to go down enough to safely try to cast again. At any moment, another ghoul might leap over the wall and grab her. She needed to be able to fight.

  It took Ester a few seconds to recover to the point that she could stand up straight again and look around her. When she did, her heart sank.

  That time had been costly for the Republicans. More ghouls were on the walls and, as she watched, another screaming soldier was pulled to the ground under a trio of the monsters. She didn’t feel ready to cast again, but she had to, otherwise more people would die.

  Ester forced her mind into focus, ignoring the way the pain in her head redoubled. She’d just have to ignore it and worry about the consequences later.

  She put one foot forward, extending her right hand with fingers splayed.

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  Dramatis personae:

  Ester Mazar - Chartered Mage, currently playing whack-a-ghoul. Would not recommend.

  Vegard - Cantrist-Sergeant, regrets headbutting a rotting undead.

  Stefan - Soldier in the garrison troops, crown-licker Mages? Unnatural I tell you!