WW Chapter 100: To Town (Patreon)

Happy 100!

“I was able to recover a little bit,” Ezra panted as he pushed Dirk into Telemachus’s arms. “You guys go ahead. I’m the best one to cut down these last ones.”

Nobody argued as Luna and Telemachus both prepared to run ahead. Dirk had stabilized, but still hadn’t regained consciousness. Divine Vigor had slowed the bleeding, and he might be able to pull through, but he wasn’t in good shape. They all fought once more against a small squad of goblins under the command of two bugbears, which had slowed them enough for another squad to start drawing closer. The village was basically in sight at this point, and Ezra didn’t want the goblinoids to have any more of a heads-up about its existence than absolutely necessary.

“Catch up soon,” Telemachus said as he passed Ezra’s shield back. They didn’t exchange any more words while Ezra ducked behind a larger rock. Fortunately, though the goblins were better equipped, and supposedly a bit more intelligent than usual now, they still weren’t immune to the old classic of “duck just out of sight and trust that the enemy will keep running.”

This small squad of goblins that had been following them did exactly what Ezra had hoped, rushing right past his small hideout in pursuit of the escaping soldiers. As he waited just long enough to let the two bugbears rush past him, he took that opportunity to make his appearance.

As if they’d known what was about to happen, the bugbears stopped not more than a meter away from Ezra’s hiding place, drawing their bows as they finally got a clear view of Telemachus, Luna, and Dirk. One of them seemed to get confused by what they were seeing and stiffened. Its pig-like snout started to snort and snuffle, just in time for Ezra’s axe to smash into the base of its skull. The weapon managed to kill the beast, but Ezra couldn’t help but take notice of the fact that his inner world’s reserves were starting to run dry. If he’d been even close to as fresh as he had been at the beginning of this suicidal decision he’d made, then he’d have beheaded the beast.

Instead, he was fighting entirely with his physical strength because he had no more aura to spare. He’d managed to meditate a tiny bit as he ran, just enough to make sure he wasn’t suffering from aura depletion. It was far from enough to spend his aura on anything though. Now, he could only rely on his training to deal with the remaining elevengoblinoids.

Fortunately, he had gotten a whole lot of training recently.

Ezra swung his axe again, lopping one of the bugbear’s arms off at the elbow. The beast jumped back, screeching as it sicced the ten goblins on him. All of the diminutive beasts lunged forward with daggers in their hands. They stabbed repeatedly at his legs as he swept his axe around at them.

You need to take care of some of them. Like this, they’ll just wear you down.

“No shit,” Ezra snapped back as he felt one blade find a chink in his armor just behind his knee. The weapon didn’t manage to cut his tendon, but he still was in a bad spot. With a roar, he shoved into one goblin before lifting his leg and stomping on its knee. The creature screamed in pain as it fell down, crippled, and Ezra took a cut along his hip in exchange.

Most of the attacks bounced off his armor and struggled to do any real damage, and in short order, Ezra was able to deal with four more goblins. That was five down, but then, one jumped onto his back and started searching with its dagger for an opening in his gorget. The weapon would find his neck before too long, and the bugbear took that moment to reach out and grab his shield. It twisted, trying to throw him, but with only one arm, Ezra was able to keep his feet.

With quick blows, Ezra took off one of the bugbears’ legs and killed another goblin. The bugbear fell back, and with a shout that was just as much rage as it was pain, Ezra started dealing death. With the bugbears out of commission, Divine Vigor would keep him going as long as he didn’t take any deadly wounds from the goblins. Even so, once Ezra was finished, he found himself blinking sweat from his eyes with his arms and legs complaining. He was nearing his limits, even with the spell and his entire inner world’s reserves.

Instead of continuing to concern himself with his physical condition, Ezra turned to look out over the surrounding area. Near the crest of a hill, he could see for maybe a kilometer in any direction, and he couldn’t see any more of the goblins. With a hopeful twist to his step, Ezra started to jog after his friends. They weren’t more than a couple hundred meters away from him, and by the time they were running into the little village, he was almost caught up. He could hear some sort of argument happening at the walls, but only a few seconds passed before Luna and Telemachus rushed in.

“What’s happening?” Ezra asked as he came close. “Is there anybody who can help him?”

“Maybe,” one of the two people they encountered answered. Both were men carrying spears, though neither was particularly high-quality.

“Everybody needs to get ready,” Ezra commanded as he stepped past. The guards both seemed bewildered at his presence, and he didn’t care to make any further explanation right that moment. Instead, he asked, “Where is the largest cellar in town? There’s no walls big enough to set up on. We’ll need to set up in or around a heavily defensible position. Underground’ll probably be better.”

“Three heavily armored soldiers with an injured friend aren’t able to just take over the entire village,” one of the guards said, stepping in front of Ezra and slapping a hand out into his chest. “We’re gonna need more of an explanation than just supposedly we need to abandon all of our houses and hide in the cellar.”

“You’re right,” Ezra nodded. “There are something like two hundred goblins coming straight this way, with orcs, bugbears, and a Dragonkin with them. They’re on the road towards this village, and we came here specifically to try to save your lives. Now,’s the perfect time to argue about this. Or do you maybe want to go along with the path of greater caution?”

“The others said something about us being in danger,” the other guard said, pulling his friend back. “It’s probably better that we at least kind of listen to what they’re saying.”

“Even if we were lying about what we’re saying,” Ezra continued, looking at them both, “you can tell that we are wearing pretty good armor, and each of us has the Duke’s crest. On top of that, we’ve got somebody who’s unconscious, and his steel armor has been torn to shreds by something. Whatever is capable of tearing his armor apart will probably do the a whole lot worse to you. Now, let me see who’s in charge around here, and then we work to get a defense mounted.”

Ezra didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he simply continued on his path forward, looking around. A few people were out, as it was getting closer towards nightfall, and he shook his head.

“It’s gonna be hard to get everybody out of their houses at this time,” Ezra grunted. Then, he turned towards the second, possibly more easily convinced guard. “How many people do you usually have patrolling the perimeter of your village? How many people have weapons?”

“We’ve got ten guys who are part of the militia,” he shrugged. “Darius trains us twice a week.”

“Does he have experience?”

“He worked as a guard in Brayton, until he retired something like 10 years ago. I think he was strong, but he doesn’t brag.”

“That’s better than nothing,” Ezra called out loud. “Take me to him.”

“Raharr,” the cautious guard said, trying to stop his friend from following along with Ezra. “We can’t just—”

“I’m doing it,” Raharr cut off his friend. “If they’re all strong enough to take over the village, then they’re going to do it. If we can’t stand up to them, then we can’t. However, if he’s telling the truth, then every second matters. I’d rather look like an idiot than have everybody die because I was too slow.”

Ezra smiled at that and gestured for Raharr to lead the way. They quickly took off at a jog into the village, and less than half a minute later, they were outside of a simple home. The village guardsman, who was maybe a year Ezra’s senior, knocked repeatedly on the door until a grumpy voice answered.

“What is it?”

“Darius, I have somebody here who says he works for the Duke. Apparently there’s an army headed our way?”

The somewhat tired voice that had answered Raharr’s knock was decidedly not present as the door flew open. A somewhat older man, maybe closing in on 40, stood there, wearing a regular tunic but holding a sword in a well-worn leather scabbard. Ezra saw along both of his forearms that Darius had plenty of scars, thick ones that had been tended well, but showed experience that Ezra wouldn’t have expected. Then Darius’s eyes flashed, and he took in everything Ezra was wearing. Ezra stretched his own perception forward and was surprised to feel that Darius was an Adept himself.

“Forgive me, I don’t know you. You are one of the Duke’s Pseudo-Knights, going off of what you’re wearing, but your aura doesn’t quite suit that. What can I do for you?”

“I’m going to be rude, and I need this to be fast,” Ezra answered. “My name is Ezra, I’m not a Pseudo-Knight, I’m an Adept. I, along with my companions who are hoping to save another of our lives, came here to warn you, and to hope to protect your town. An army of about two hundred and fifty total is approaching here now. Most of them goblins, with forty bugbears and twenty to twenty five orcs. There’s also a Dragonkin in that army. They’re on the path to the village; we were able to kill some of their number before they arrived. We came around through the hills to keep them from coming straight here. At most, we have an hour before they’re here, actively trying to kill everybody.”

“Fuck.”

“Exactly. My companions and I are all Adepts, but we’re mostly exhausted. However much time we can get to meditate to recover will be valuable. I need you to coordinate this village to get everybody into one cellar or building to make sure that we can protect as many people as possible.”

“Guide him to the ice cellar,” Darius said without any further communication. “I’m gonna get my equipment. Have everybody get their own. As you’re going, yell for everybody to get to the center of town. I vouch for him. I can feel he’s pretty strong, and hasn’t got a reason to lie, so far as I can tell.”

After that, Darius stared at Ezra. “I hope you’re enough. Thank you for coming. Let’s see if we can keep everybody alive. We can only thank the Watcher that he sent you here at the same time that the peddler came through.”

“He has a few guards?” Ezra confirmed.

“Three,” Darius confirmed before rushing into his home.

Ezra didn’t think it was necessary to have some conversation right now as Raharr’s face fell. With Darius’s voice of approval, apparently that was all the other guard needed. He jogged forward, placing both hands next to his mouth as he started to shout.

“Everybody! To the center of the village! Now! This is not a drill! Everybody! To the center of the village! This is not a drill!”

Faces popped out of their homes, and seeing a man in armor and covered with blood seemed to be enough of a reinforcement of Raharr’s warning. Concerned people flooded out of their houses, some of them going into neighbors’ homes to get the elderly or young, while Ezra and his companions continued forward.

In just a few minutes, most of the inhabitants of the village were there in front of a large building, and Darius ran through the press of bodies before he came to stand next to Ezra. Now, he had on a simple chain shirt and helmet, and he carried bracers, as well as a shield and his sword.

“Everybody! Until we give you the all-clear, you will be spending every moment in the ice cellar! Peddler Polly, we will need your guards to join the defense.”

“What defense?” somebody called from the crowd.

“We have an army of goblins coming here. Ezra here, along with his companions, are going to try to keep us all alive. Anybody who’s willing and able-bodied, we’re going to have you set up a small defensive line, because this is gonna be a bloody battle.”

A visible burst of fear spread through the crowd at that, and as soon as that was done, Darius continued speaking. “This man here, his name is Ezra, he’s here from the capital. The Duke sent him, he’s going to help keep us alive. He’s got three friends, and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure this army learns that they’re just monsters and good wins over evil!”

Ezra felt his face twist at that, though ragged cheers went up as panicked people started to calm down, just slightly enough to file past him and Darius, and into the building they stood in front of.

“I still haven’t seen my companions,” Ezra whispered, leaning over to grab Darius by the elbow. “Where are they?”

“They’ll be in this building,” Darius answered. “Let’s go. Then, when we see how your injured companions are doing, we can figure out what kind of plan we can make.”