Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 5, Chapter 8

Winter's Crown: Act 5, Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In the fading twilight, the Imps started to shed their invisibility, their numbers clouding the air like a swarm of bats. Undersides aglow in the light of the village fires, they dipped and swerved and swooped, but never came within striking distance of the spears and clubs below. Rocks and other small objects started to fly up at the swarm, bouncing harmlessly off of their scaly hides.

“Don’t waste your energy!” Qrs shouted, “Get moving!”

Even the weakest of Imps had a supernatural resilience that could shrug off minor blows. Without the ability to perform powerful ranged attacks, or possessing projectiles with qualities that bypassed their defensive traits, the only option at this distance was to use magic, or wait until they fluttered close enough to strike with enough force to overcome their damage reduction.

Qrs heard a flutter nearby, and found another invisible Imp with his weapon, smashing it out of the air before it reached Rhag.

“The Imps up top are a distraction!” He told the villagers, “There are still invisible ones going after our healers.”

Once their healers were out of the picture, so many Imps would be able to disable villagers at their leisure. Imp venom affected coordination; being stung multiple times without resisting its effects would leave one unable to handle a weapon, or even put one foot in front of another. He suspected that whatever else was on its way would be taking those that were incapacitated away to be caged.

All around him, villagers were ducking, covering their heads and trying to crawl away.

“Rhag,” he said, “is there anything you can do about this?”

“The ones above us, yes,” Rhag replied.

“Do it.”

Rhag stood upright, stretching her hands out above her head. Qrs stayed alert for any invisible Imps trying to take advantage of her brief vulnerability.

“?Widen Magic – Vortex of Teeth?!”

A towering cloud of transparent fish with gaping maws and needle-like teeth appeared in the air over their heads. Rhag sent the swirling vortex of voracious phantasms against the path of the Imps circling overhead. Pieces of their shredded remains rained down on the village and, after half a minute, the spell dissipated in silence.

“?See Invisibility?.”

Qrs glanced down at the Shaman below. The figures of ghostly Fiends appeared in his sight, and he caught on.

“See Invisibility!” He shouted out over the villagers again.

The sound of the spell being cast repeated itself over the village lanes. Warriors and hunters started striking out with deadly accuracy at the suddenly-exposed Imps. Within minutes, the forest was quiet again, but Qrs couldn’t imagine that the lull would last very long

“East, to the river!” He ordered, “Stop packing your things – move!”

The villagers started streaming by, following the slope up east out of the village. Qrs looked down at Rhag, who was tending to a stung child.

“That was a good spell,” he said. “I didn’t know you had anything like that.”

The Chief Druid did not turn to respond, instead focusing on a boy with a gash on his arm.

“?Cure Poison?.”

“?Lesser Restoration?.”

Rhag returned the child to his mother and rose to her feet, dusting off her knees.

“I hadn’t had the chance to use it until then,” she said. “It’s a spell of the Fourth Tier, but legend has it that there’s an even stronger form.”

Recalling how the spell had shredded hundreds of Imps in a matter of seconds, Qrs couldn’t imagine what a more powerful form of the spell would be like. This one alone appeared to be enough to devastate any number of enemy raiders.

“Well, it’s a good thing you learned it,” he told her. “There’s bound to be more attacks like that.”

“Between handling all these stings,” she said, “I’m not sure if mana will hold out. Not only do we have to nullify the toxin itself, but we also have to restore the negative effects. If our tribe didn’t have as many mystics as it does, we’d be in real trouble right now.”

“How many others are capable of wiping out masses of enemies like that?”

“There are two others in our village that are capable of casting magic of the fourth tier, but I don’t think we’ll last long if this is going to be a continuous thing.”

“It should take some time for them to realize that the Imps didn’t work,” Qrs reasoned. “Whoever is following up to capture all the people they expected to succumb to the Imps will be the first to know, but hopefully we’ll be long gone by then.”

“These Imps left no remains on the ground,” Rhag told him. “They’re summons. Their summoners will have known that they’ve failed the instant we quelled their attack.”

“Well great,” Qrs sighed. “We’re still moving, regardless. Hopefully, the other villages can make it out.”

He stepped off of the platform, leaving Rhag to her work. He found Rholh and their daughters at the eastern threshold of the village.

“Are we all okay here?” He asked.

“We’re fine,” Rholh replied. “Leela was stung, but one of the Druids took care of it.”

Qrs looked down at his youngest, who was frowning down at a hole in her shirt – she looked more annoyed about that than the fact that she had been hurt.

“Good,” he grunted. “We need to get to the river before the next wave catches up to us.”

“There’s going to be more?”

“If that was all Jaldabaoth amounted to,” he told her, “we wouldn’t be running. You could have taken out all those Imps on your own with enough time. Those are just advanced forces – the venom in their stingers will build up in their victims that can’t resist it until they lose all coordination. I’m sure they’ve already sent forces to capture the fallen, so they’ll be pretty mad when they find that their attack was fruitless.”

“Then what about the other villages?” Rholh furrowed her brow, “We sent out those runners just an hour ago…”

“I know,” Qrs said. “There’s no way they’d have reached anyone in time. I don’t know if they sent Imps to every village or if they were just sweeping over the land but, with some luck, our runners will make it back to us with news either way. As annoying as they are, these Imps are weak compared to an experienced hunter, so they can probably sneak by any number of them.”

Qrs looked up to the eastern ridge, which still glowed dimly with the light of the setting sun. They would cross over it by midnight at this pace, but it was still over a day to the river with the slow going of the villagers. They would see in the dark just fine, but so could Fiends in general. The timing was also extraordinarily bad. Most would be exhausted by the time they reached the ford, and they would be travelling at a snail’s pace through The Neck just trying to stay safe, rested, and provisioned.

A voice called to him from the rear, Qrs looked over his shoulder.

“Looks like I should get to the back,” he told his family. “I’ll be bringing up the rear, just in case more attacks come, but be careful all the same. These things can fly, and they can pop up from anywhere.”

Rholh nodded and gathered their children closer, within the reach of her quarterstaff. The kids had staves of their own, but they were literally children with sticks who wouldn’t be able to get past the Imps’ defences. Qrs sighed over how much more fragile his entire world suddenly seemed.

Dropping back to the rear of the procession, he found Rhag encouraging the slowest forward.

“How are things looking?” He asked her.

“Still clear, as far as I can see,” Rhag replied. “Even the fastest of those runners we sent out won’t catch up to us for a few hours yet – if they even make it out at all.”

“Unless they run into something a lot stronger than Imps, our hunters should be fine,” Qrs told her. “We’ll know how many of the other villages are still on their way by tonight.”

They made their way in silence, saving their energy for the trek through the night. As predicted, the runners started finding them after several hours.

“Chief,” the first that caught up to them nodded as he trotted up to them, “the closest northern villages bordering the Gnoll lands are on their way.”

“Did they give you any trouble?” Qrs asked.

“They were surprised,” he shook his head, “but they didn’t question your decision. A Demon God isn’t something someone just makes up, never mind you.”

“Good. Any sign of attacks?”

“Not at their villages, nor on the way back here…did something happen?”

“Our village was attacked not long after we sent you all out,” Qrs told him. “A big swarm of Imps came in while we were still getting ready to leave.”

“…did we lose anyone?”

“They were just Imps,” Qrs shrugged. “Our mystics used up a lot of mana tending to their venom and its effects, though.”

“If these Fiends made it that far,” the runner said, “does that mean that all of the eastern villages are overrun?”

“We’ll find out soon enough. Hopefully, they specifically targeted our village to cripple our ability to make decisions. Find your family – let them know you’re okay.”

The runner nodded and trotted east to catch up with the column.

Over the course of the next few hours, the rest of the runners appeared. Half of the villages had been reported overrun, and it appeared that Jaldabaoth’s forces were sweeping in from the west. The remaining tribes had not questioned his orders and were already on their way.

“I don’t get it,” Qrs said. “How did they end up attacking right at this moment? It’s not as if our villages are hidden…”

“It’s pointless to ask why these Fiends do anything,” Rhag replied. “They’re beings of pure evil with minds and motives entirely alien from our own.”

“Then…are there any races nearby that deal with Demons? This Jaldabaoth can’t have just sprung out of nowhere…”

“Imps are commonly used for various things,” Rhag replied, “but you probably know enough about them already. If this Jaldabaoth is as powerful as you say, perhaps a great ritual…no – I know of no tribe or people in the nearby lands that is capable…”

After a time, Rhag spoke once more.

“In the southeast, there is a Human nation rumoured to have demonstrated magics that could only result from great rituals,” she said. “Clearing the wilderness to make room for expansion is an understandable motive, at least. Perhaps they have summoned this Demon God to do just that.”

Humans, again.

Qrs lip curled in a sneer. Why was it that Humans seemed to be the source of his woes recently? Puny beings that couldn’t fight for themselves, summoning evil Fiends to do so in their stead. He tried re-piecing his knowledge of events with this information, trying to make sense of anything he could.

“They started in the southeast of the hills,” he said, “in the Dale of Defiance. Shouldn’t they have started along their own borders if this is the case?”

“The Humans of the wall are on the other side of the hills,” Rhag said. “If they pushed solely from the east, their fellows would be overrun by those fleeing in advance of this Demon God – just like we are fleeing now.”

“So they start from the hills to create chaos and slowly contain us,” Qrs scratched his ear, “and, in the end, they will connect with their kinsfolk from the west. Or…”

Qrs frowned as a disturbing thought crossed his mind.

“Or?”

“Or there are more beings like this Jaldabaoth, and this is happening all across the wilderness.”

“I-impossible,” Rhag paled. “So many beings like this would mean the end of the world if they flew out of control! No one has the power to control them, nor would they be such fools to employ them.”

“Maybe. Even so, this Human nation you speak of lies to the southeast of the wilderness, so our current course is potentially leading us into a trap.”

“But what can we do?” One of the hunters nearby asked, “The mountains to the north are rugged and near impossible to cross, and – even if we manage to make it past the now Fiend-infested hills – the Great Forest of Evansha lies to the south. Both destinations spell doom for our people.”

“We–”

The hunter raised his hand, ears swivelling slightly in the wind. Qrs looked around but sensed nothing.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Sounds to the northwest,” the hunter answered. “Screaming, fighting; young and old…they’re ours – probably one of the villages following after us.”

“Damn it,” Qrs cursed. “How far away? Any sign of anything coming for us?”

“Not that I can see or hear,” the hunter replied. “The fighting is drowning out everything else…maybe an hour away – a bit more.”

Qrs’ mind worked, trying to figure out how to best divide their numbers. If they sent help, they would essentially be splitting their numbers three ways, which would be easier to defeat individually if their pursuers were aware of it…but they couldn’t afford not to – they needed as many people as possible to force their way east.

“Stop!” He called out over the long procession.

The villagers came to a halt, turning their gazes back to him.

“Back half of our fighting forces, gather on me,” he said. “Front half, create a perimeter for our villagers and prepare for possible attacks. Take a breather while you can: there’s another village fighting behind us; we’re going back to help.”

The villagers started to gather into a tight circle under the trees as they followed his instructions. Qrs turned to Rhag.

“Stay here and keep things under control,” he told her. “If they come after both groups, you’ll probably be the smaller of the two so you’ll need your magic to get rid of anything like those Imps just now.”

“I hear you, Chief,” Rhag nodded. “How long should we wait?”

“Four hours,” he decided. “Split the watch in half, take turns getting quick naps. After that…we probably have a handful waiting at the ford already – Hobgoblins and Armat.”

Rhag nodded again at his words, and Qrs turned and motioned for the hunters to lead. The force of hunters, warriors and mystics headed off to the northwest. After half an hour, the sound of baying animals could be heard over the wind.

“That’s not an Imp,” Qrs looked to the hunter beside him.

“Not unless they’re doing impressions now,” she replied. “There’s more – a large pack, at least. Wolves, maybe…no, wolves wouldn’t make all that racket.”

“Well,” he hefted his war club, “at least it sounds like something less annoying to fight.”

Ahead, the hunters in the vanguard stopped, raising their spears. Qrs caught up to them and, not far in front, several figures started to appear from the trees.

“They’re ours,” one of the hunters called.

Qrs rushed forward to meet the first of them: an old crone leading a small group of children.

“Old one,” he said. “We’ve come to help. Tell us what you can.”

She leaned forward to hang on his arm, breathing ragged.

“Fiends,” she said, “like we were warned…but there’s so many. So many…”

“We heard something like wolves,” Qrs said. “What was that?”

“They…they were hounds, but they had flames in their mouths. They’re the ones that found us; followed our trail.”

“Sounds like Hellhounds,” a Druid said to the side. “They’re rarely summoned and they’re no match for our warriors, but if they’ve gone from tracking to attacking, it must mean they’re trying to slow us down for whatever is on its way.”

“Was there anyone else attacking you?” Qrs asked the old crone.

“No,” the old crone shook her head, “but we were at the front.”

“The front?”

“The people from all the villages started to flow together at some point. I’ve no idea what’s in the rear.”

“Got it.”

Qrs looked around. He pointed at two fighters and a hunter.

“You, you and you: start leading them up to the others – ensure that no one gets lost. Don’t go too fast: we want everyone else following the path to see you and join up.”

Following the trail of fleeing villagers, it was not long until Qrs and his reinforcements found the edge of the main group. Sentries formed around the edges as they slowly made their way forward and, once in a while, a pack of Hellhounds appeared from the trees. As the Druid had mentioned, they didn’t last long against the defenders, but they did have the effect of slowing things down.

Qrs came across a tall warrior, his spear pinning one of the Hellhounds to the damp soil. The Fiendish creature snarled and snapped at the shaft, struggling until it expired.

“Dol,” Qrs called out.

The warrior, one of the village chiefs, planted his foot on the Hellhound’s body and yanked out his spear. There was a dissatisfied expression on his face as the creature disintegrated into glistening black motes that vanished into the air.

“I was hoping free food was being sent our way,” Dol said, “but they’re all summons.”

“How long has this been going on for?” Qrs asked.

“Over an hour, Chief,” he answered. “We’ve barely been scratched, but it’s hard keeping everyone together and moving with all this happening.”

“Someone up ahead said there was a lot of this.”

“There was,” Dol propped his spear over a shoulder, “and there’ll be more if what’s gone on keeps going. Packs of five or so all along the west side of the column every few minutes. Adds up.”

“How many villages made it?”

“Hmm…eleven, at last count. This is turning into one giant mess: you sure we couldn’t have fought this crap off? I could take these things out all day.”

“This is nowhere near the worst of it,” Qrs told him.

“Hmph. Well, it’s a good thing you’re here now, Chief. Go on and straighten everyone out – we’ll hold the line.”