Chapter Fifty-One - Fetching Help

Chapter Fifty-One - Fetching Help

Chapter Fifty-One - Fetching Help

Gosh... Darn it, I swore as the tracks in the ground just sort of stopped. Between one muddy step and the next there wasnt so much as a trace of the six sets of hoofprints left.

My left fist tightened, my right... sort of flopped uselessly and sent a nauseating wave of pain through my entire body.

I carefully held my broken wrist and turned back to stare at the bridge, still well in sight.

The cervids had truly gotten away.

Not that there was much I could do even if I caught up. I didnt doubt for a moment that they had been holding back. Their leader wanted to leave behind a witness. I couldnt quite piece together the why of it. It didnt make sense.

I looked back and forth from the bridge to the path they might have taken.

It felt as if someone were grabbing my heart and squeezing, as if something were trying to crush my lungs in my chest and, for a long moment, I had a hard time even breathing. This wasnt leaving a potential friend because our paths split. This was losing a friend because someone had taken her away from me to do... do horrible things to her.

Orange pushed her head into my neck and looked up to me with eyes that reflected my sadness right back at me.

Why? I asked. Im not sure who I was asking. The empty air. The world itself? It didnt matter. Things like this shouldnt have happened, not in my fun fantasy world with magic and dragons and fairies and...

I wiped my eyes again. I didnt have time for this!

Amaryllis needed saving, now more than ever.

If I had to... to hurt people to save a friend, I would.

Still, I had to find her first. There werent any tracks left, and I didnt have the ability to see them from too high above. Even jumping as high as I couldnt didnt reveal anything. Orange was a cat, she couldn't track by scent the way a dog could.

And that gave me an idea.

I didnt run so much as I sprinted. I only stopped by the bridge to fling my backpack off to reduce my weight. I only kept my spear and spade. Then I was off again, legs kicking out with constant jumps, the road flying by under me as I ate away at the distance.

What had taken Amaryllis and I two hours to cross at a leisurely walk took me twenty minutes.

In the end I collapsed into an ungainly heap at the front of Fort Frogger, my legs wobbly and inflamed from the constant impacts against the ground. Jumping so much couldnt be good, not if the twinges of pain travelling up my legs meant anything, but I didnt have time for anything like that.

It took a moment for me to catch my breath and finally get to my feet. The skeletal knights by the gate hadnt so much as flinched on my arrival.

I walked past them, wincing as the many many aches across my body that two healing potions hadnt cured. I had one left, but it was for Amaryllis. She would need it more than I would.

Gunther! I called out as I knocked on the door with a closed fist. Mister Gunther, please. I need help!

The door to the fort opened. Mister Gunther stood in the entrance, flanked by Throat Ripper and looking quite unamused. Then he took me in and his expression shifted. What happened to you? he asked. No, wait, come in, come in.

I followed him in. I wanted to talk right away, but he just kept walking until he was in the lounge and sitting in one of the chairs. The other two had been packed away already, so I was left standing before him. Amaryllis was taken. Um, we were attacked. At that bridge.

Im not sending my best friend out there with only you for support, Guther said. Ill gather my swiftest skeletons and send them as well. If there truly are six adversaries that have reached or passed the first rank, then youll need a far greater number of skeletons to hold them back. Cervids are no pushovers.

Gunther stood up and I followed him as he started ordering skeletons around. First he told Throat Ripper and a few of the butler skeletons to go get the dogs armour, then he stepped out and casually pointed to half a dozen skeletons, all of them cervid, and told them to go and get equipped for battle.

It was a little disconcerting to see how much power Gunther had around his little fort, but that power was on my side and would help me save Amaryllis, and Gunther didnt seem like a bad sort of guy.

Your goal is to save your friend? Gunther asked me as we both moved back into the fort.

Yeah, of course, I said.

Then the moment you arrive, focus on that and nothing but. Take your friend and run back here, or if you must, towards Green Hold. The cervids arent welcome there, nor is anyone else from the Trenten Flats.

Is there some history there? I asked. Or is it just, uh, speciesism?

Gunther blinked, then smiled as he rubbed at his nose. Ah, yes I suppose you wouldnt know. The United Republic of the Trenten Flats is the largest nation on the continent. Theyre also fiercely expansionist and rather troublesome to have as neighbours. Some decades ago they invaded Deepmarsh. Or rather, they tried to.

Deepmarsh stopped them? It wasnt time for a history lesson, but I was waiting and maybe learning a little about the kidnappers would help.

They will certainly claim so. I believe that the truth is more nuanced. The Trenten invasion was large, outnumbering any force Deepmarsh could bring by three to one. But they were led by an inexperienced general, didnt have many scouts, and the army they fielded was green. The swamps, unfiltered water, and the insects of the marsh did more to whittle down the army than the resistance Deepmarsh rallied to defend their borders.

That sounds messy, I said. I could imagine a huge army trying to trek through the same swampy land Amaryllis and I had walked across. With wagons and horses and a lot of people walking over the same muddy ground all day. It wasnt hard to imagine the average soldiers morale taking a hit.

I still find bodies to this day, Gunther said. Ah, Throat Ripper is ready.

The big, rather silly bone doggy had changed a whole lot over the course of the last ten minutes. He was now covered from head to tail in thick padded armour, with a layer of what looked like the scaly hide of some sort of crocodile. His head was covered in a helmet that only left the burning embers of his eyes visible and there were boney spikes sewn into the material of his armour all along his sides and back and haunches.

Oh, wow, I said. You look so scary Throat Ripper, I said. Yes you do, yes you do!

The bone doggy wiggled his butt and his tail, now equipped with a thagomizer, swung from side to side in glee.

Theres a seat built into the top of his armour. Its far from comfortable, but it works well enough as long as you hang on tightly.

I dont know what my expression was like, but Gunther took one look at me and chuckled.

Remember what I said. Grab your friend and return. Dont dilly dally. Dont try and fight the cervids unless you have no other choice. And if it comes to the choice between you and them, do pick yourself. It would be insulting if you were unable to pay back your favour because you managed to get yourself killed.

I swallowed, the joy that learning that Id get to ride Throat Ripper into battle snuffed out by his warning. Alright, I said. Ill do what I can.

Good, Gunther said. Now, dont worry about the skeletons. Theyre immensely disposable. And Throat Ripper is likely stronger than most everyone but the elites among the Cervid army. He can take care of himself. And if he does pass on, I can always bring him back.

Thank you, Gunther. I... just thank you.

Go save your friend, little riftwalker. You can thank me later.

I grinned at him, and when Throat Ripper bounded out of the front door I followed after the big pup. With a bounce, I landed on the bone dogs broad back and grabbed two spikes that were placed so as to be handholds for the rider. Cmon Throat Ripper, lets go save Amaryllis.

***Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com