Chapter Fifty - Ambush

Chapter Fifty - Ambush

Chapter Fifty - Ambush

Drop all of your weapons and equipment and get onto your knees, the deer-person (Cervid, Amaryllis had called them) in the middle of the pack before us said.

This isnt good, Amaryllis said. Her knife-wand slid into her hand from somewhere and began to crackle with an electric hum. Cover the rear, she said.

I nodded and spun around, my backpack coming off to be tossed to the side as I pulled my shovel off my pack and held it before me. Insight, I muttered.

A confident Cervid Lancer, level ?.

A confident Cervid Runner, level ??.

A bored Cervid Plains Speaker, level ?.

Theyre pretty strong, I said. That had just been the three that snuck up behind us. I was willing to bet the leader was even stronger.

We can take them, Amaryllis said, her voice brimming with confidence that I didnt doubt for a moment was fake. Its just three on six.

I wondered what she meant for a moment before I saw Orange wriggle out from her shirt to come padding through the air. She stood floating at shoulder height next to me.

Licking my lips, I stepped up towards the nearest group of deer people and raised my voice so that they could all hear. Hey everyone. My name is Broccoli. My friend and I were just travelling by here. If this is your bridge we apologies.

Five, Six, youre on the secondary target. Two, Three, Four, youre with me on the primary, the one I suspected was the leader said.

Judging by the way the cervids shifted, the numbers were their names. Or at least, code names. Most of them were wearing helmets of one sort or another, and all of them had padded clothes on, like my gambeson but stretched out over their entire bodies. No markings that I could tell except for thin orange lines on their shoulders. Their equipment looked uniform, all made of the same materials and with the same cut.

Were these soldiers?

Broccoli, Amaryllis said. You should run. Its me theyre after.

No, I said. That wasnt going to happen. I didnt abandon friends, especially not when they were about to be attacked by some bandits or something.

Break! the leader said, and that ended any hope that we could have a civil discussion.

Amaryllis was the first to act, her knife hand stabbing at the air even as a thunderous boom sounded out and a pillar of bluish light as thick around as my wrist shot out and hit one of the deer folk.

He screamed as his body convulsed and his charge turned into an ungainly flop to the ground.

I didnt have time to feel pity for him.

Two of the deer people rushed straight at me. One with bare hands, the other with a long spear. The Lancer and Plains Speaker.

I froze for just a moment, the cracking of their hooves on the stone bridge like machine gun fire in my ears and the focus in what I could see of their eyes in the slits of their helmets rooting me on the spot.

Then Orange collided with the Lancers face and his spear slid past me, cutting a hot line into my sides as it caught on the edge of my gambeson.

I screamed and did the first thing that I could think of. I jumped.

The Plains Speaker looked up to me in time to win a foot to the face. I used him as a springboard to land on the hip-high stone railing of the bridge.

This wasnt some fight in a dungeon where the enemies were only mostly real. This was dangerous, truly dangerous.

Amaryllis was ducking and weaving around a pair of spears trying to hit her, sparks flying out of her talons and skittering across the skin of her enemies. She was taking them four on one and, somehow, was holding her ground.

One of the cervids was a mage of some sort, throwing translucent shields around that took Amaryllis attacks without so much as a shudder. Orange, help her! I screamed.

I didnt want to fight, I didnt want to hurt people. I didnt want to be attacked. And I especially didnt want to fail a friend.

I swallowed and tightened my grip on my spade.

The Lancer spun around and his spear darted towards me. I batted it aside, jumped off the railing so that I was right up in front of him, then I fired a blast of cleaning magic right in his face. He stumbled back, which gave me all the time I needed to hop up so that I was a bit above him. I came down with my entire weight swinging the head of my spade down on his helmet.

The bong of steel meeting steel was like music.

The Cervid Lancer said some rude things as he took a step back.

I didnt have time to follow up as the Plains Speaker flung his arms out at me, a net opening wide in the air between us.

Eyes widening, I flung my spade at the net and, fortunately, slowed it down enough that I was able to side-step it.

The Lancer shifted his helmet back in place with one hand and looked ready for more.

And now I was without a weapon.

I jumped, flying over the Plains Speaker.

He was falling back, eyes watery and wide, blood spurting out of his nose as he exhalled. I couldnt reach his face anymore. I let my hand fall into the helmet, wearing it like an oversized glove as I pushed what little stamina I had left into a forward lunge.

Friends!

My wrist snapped.

I cried out and pulled my hand back to my chest. The helmet, with its pointy edges, stayed stuck in the Cervids chest armour.

I was breathing in gasps as I cradled a wrist that wasnt bending the right way.

The four remaining Cervids were moving closer. One had Amaryllis bound and unconscious on his back.

Kill her? One of them asked.

No, the leader said. Shes a witness. Wheres Five?

One of them, the mage, snorted. Went over the edge. Hes swimming to shore.

The leader looked over the side of the bridge and sighed. Against a level six. Sad. Four, knock her out. Two, give Five a healing potion.

I watched as one of them raised a wooden wand my way. Light gathered at the end of it.

I tried to jump but my legs only wobbled.

The ball of light crashed into my chest and sent me flying back.

I wished that the world went black, that I would fade into the abyss of unconsciousness. No such luck. I writhed on the ground, tears streaming and teeth grit against the pain. I saw the Plains Speaker, looking the worse for wear, stopping above me.

His hoof came down and planted itself on my leg and twisted.

Six! the leader called back over my scream. Were going. Leave her.

Tch, Six, the Plains Speaker said.

He spat on me and walked away with a limp.

I heard them all moving off, five sets of hooves clacking across the bridge. They were joined by the lancer I had thrown off the edge.

Then their voices faded away into the distance. It didnt matter to me.

My hand, my left hand that still shook, reached into my bandoleer. Fingers scrapped across broken glass as I pulled out my broken trifecta potion. The remains had leaked out.

I flung the glass aside with a cry.

My backpack was still there. Someone had kicked it, but it was otherwise untouched. They werent bandits here for our stuff.

I crawled to it.

Health 31/120

Stamina 02/125

Mana 79/115

I wasnt bleeding, not much that I could tell, but I was hurting all over. I didnt want to wait and see if I would heal over time.

Reaching my pack was hard, looking through it was harder.

Then Orange came closer and I saw the kitty climb into the backpack. She came out with a potion between her teeth.

Thanks, I said. The cork came off. I downed it in one swallow. It was surprisingly sweet.

Health 37/120

Stamina 02/125

Mana 79/115

My health was ticking upwars, a point every few seconds. I found a second potion and drank it too.

The pain left, but it was slow. A soothing warmth that banished the hurt.

I sat against the side of the bridge and waited for my health to climb back to full. And in the meantime, I allowed myself to cry.

***