I awoke in a gentle warmth on a hard ground. I heard screaming around me, and honestly, I wanted to join these men. I lost everything. Nothing was left. With a very high probability, I was still in shock, but I knew we weren’t out of danger as I opened my eyes and noticed the very stressed gaze of battle hardened soldiers, all wearing black armour.
I tried to sit upright, but a gentle and yet firm hand hindered me from doing so. As soon as I noticed that, I looked upwards to a man who stared at me without any emotions. He was around thirty, had beard stubbles and blonde short hair, ideal for fighting. He only shook his head and closed his eyes once again as the man right next to me started to scream in agony.
The interior clearly indicated this was a tavern, but the screams all around me certainly proved otherwise. After hours of screaming from different men in which I could only close my eyes, another person finally arrived. He walked over his comrades with heavy steps and stopped only as he was to my right.
“I really want to throw her in front of these demons right now.” The one who just entered growled unhappily.
“And what would that change, Allen?” The one holding me down earlier said.
“That girl could act as a human shield for once, dear Constable.” There was a lot of bad blood between them, even I noticed that with my closed eyes, horrible scenes flashing in front of me.
“Orders are orders.” The constable stated dryly.
“These orders are shit. Why do we need to save a random village girl? Look at her, she can’t even open her eyes because she is too scared of me.” I opened my teary eyes in defiance. I was weak, I couldn’t do anything, he was completely right. But if I made myself small, if I wailed in misery, I was sure that all these lives were lost for nothing. And that was something I couldn’t accept.
“She is a little girl, what do you expect?” The constable asked and grabbed Allen´s hand as he reached towards his scabbard.
“More. Something that tells me all these lost lives are worth it.” I couldn’t show him that. Nothing I could do would prove that my life was worth more than theirs … and I knew I never could do that.
“I never asked you to save me.” I said weakly.
“Oh, she can speak! Maybe she can even tel-“ The door opened with a bang as a bloodied figure stepped inside, with bits of organs still on her hood that revealed a beautiful blonde haired woman beneath it. She glanced at me once, and then strolled through the room towards the bar without any apparent interest in me.
“Allen, how often do I need to tell you to shut your foul mouth in front of women? Constable Payne, how many?” She asked in a commanding voice while reaching over the counter to retrieve a bottle of wine.
“One hundred and twelve.” The constable said quietly.
“With or without the wounded?” The woman asked and emptied everything above her head, washing blood off her waterproof coat and cleaning it slightly.
“… with.” The constable said even more quietly. The woman looked around the room once, probably counting the ten odd wounded and then nodded.
“Make them ready to be transported. We will head out in ten minutes.” She commanded and was already on the way out as Allen spoke up once more.
“But madam, none of these here is ready for transport.” He claimed. Even I who knew nothing about healing patients knew that some of them were at death´s door already.
“Do you see a priest somewhere? Any healer? No, because you failed to protect him.” The blonde woman said with scorn in her voice. I shrunk back a bit from the sheer pressure I felt, even though her fury was directed at Allen.
“He couldn’t even defend himself against two goblins!” Allen tried to defend himself, but the woman didn’t seem to care much.
“Time is ticking. We are already too deep in enemy territory. We cannot waste any more time, so shut up and do your work.” She growled at him and already reached for the black sword on her hip.
“Fine.” Allen said meekly.
“Girl, get up.” She said towards me angrily. With the help of the constable, I managed to stand up slowly and walk towards her with wobbly legs. She even held the door open for me, revealing the sunrise on the horizon. We were in a different village, devoid of any humans except the soldiers who fed their horses and kept watch.
“Did Irminsul sent you?” I asked, guessing that she was the one who got me out of the barn. I only earned a glare from her as a response in the beginning, but then she closed her green eyes.
“Stop asking useless questions. Do you know how to ride a horse?” She asked and waved a few guards over and pointed towards the tavern. They immediately understood and began with carrying their wounded onto a simple cart.
“… no.” I admitted. I didn´t know how to ride a horse as I simply never saw one before.
“Fine. Constable, she is all yours again. Get going, three minutes left.” She said and straddled a horse right next to us. “And you “ She pointed at me. “Don’t mess this up again.”
“I … what did I do wrong?” She didn´t answer, but rather dug her heels into the side of the horse, riding away from the village towards the sunrise.
“Don’t stand around like you grew roots. Come here.” The constable said in a hurry and lifted me up onto the horse he sat on. Once again, I was in front of him, remembering the previous night. But somehow, I managed to pull myself together and ignore all the pain in my chest. Desperately, I clung onto life, even though I was responsible for so many deaths. Even though I couldn’t save my parents. My friends … and everyone else.
A few minutes later, we rode out of the village again with me in the middle of the wedge formation, the cart with the wounded right behind us. That woman was nowhere to be in sight again, but I could hear the screams of demons towards the east as we headed south through flatlands. Occasionally, a lone monstrosity stood in our path and sometimes there were even groups of them. More lives were lost as we broke through these groups time and time again, or as we tried to avert a large, green creature swinging a tree around as a club. But the soldiers even managed to overcome this creature as it was thankfully slower than the horses.
“Blackleigh Hold in sight Constable! It is surrounded by monsters, but the backwards fortifications seem to hold!” A nearby soldier who let himself fall back screamed towards us.
“The bridge?” The constable asked strangely hopeful.
“Still lowered, Sire!” The other soldier answered with a grin on his face.
“Thank the gods …” The constable said quietly. “now we only have to wait for …” He looked behind us and even though I couldn´t see his expression, I knew that his silence wasn’t a positive sign. “well, there is only one way for us now.”
Everyone in the formation panicked a little as a loud scream of agony erupted to our side and revealed the woman, followed by a whole horde of these red eyed bulls that destroyed the barn door like it was nothing.
As we got close towards the fortress and the gap between the woman and the bulls closed, I could finally see the fortress as well. It was built over a large canyon, etched into the ground by a river that could be heard from hundreds of metres away. The fortress was thus built on both sides of the river, with a large stone bridge in the middle, secured to either side of the fortress by thick iron chains. Our side of the fortress seemed to be given up as I could spot a few demons sleeping there, leaning onto the wall. The other side though was still manned with soldiers, shooting arrows and spells as the hordes of demons trying to break through an iron gate.
“Slow down!” The constable screamed, his on sword now in his hand and pointing it towards the open gate of the first portion where a sheer endless number of demons just waited for our arrival. The whole formation slowed down in an instant, enabling the woman and the bulls who apparently only had eyes for her to ride past us into the masses of screaming demons. I could see her horse running into the demons, sending a few of them flying and then, there was just chaos as the bulls followed suit.
And even then, these bulls just didn´t stop. They kept on going, sending their own comrades flying in a race to reach that woman who I could see from time to time, running through all these demons, evading attacks like it was nothing and sometimes, even slashing at them with a dagger clad in electricity.
“Charge!” The constable screamed, just as four huge green monsters woke up to our sides. We already lost a few men to one of these creatures while running away from them prior. We could do the same here, but there was a horde of very angry bulls in front of us, not to speak about the still closed iron door.
After battling through what the bulls left alive, we somehow managed to keep the distance between us and these big monstrosities stable and even got onto the bridge somehow. Arrows and different spells crashed down around us, wreaking havoc to anything except us. But these creatures could take it. At least the soldiers on the wall managed to thin the horde of bulls considerably, which enabled us to get onto the bridge somewhat safely. Despite being out of stone, I seriously doubted it was made for this weight, especially because it looked quite old.
Once again, electricity cracked in front of us, hitting most of the bulls in one go. Even though they weren’t killed by that, they were paralyzed for quite some time, which led to a swift massacre of them by either arrows or swords.
The problem at this point were the big green monstrosities behind us which were previously asleep and only woke up as the bulls crashed into their comrades. Nobody would be able to fight them, especially because I could see that woman stumbling over the battlefield, clearly tired and not in any shape to fight on much longer.
“Open the gates!” The constable screamed as the first one of these huge monsters stepped onto the bridge. I could feel the stone beneath the horses’ hooves trembling under the weight of these creatures. Everyone knew they were treading over the abyss which could devour them every second. At least the iron door opened slowly and the iron grating behind it rose slowly as well. The first soldiers were already rushing towards the small opening, spurring their tired horses as if there was no tomorrow.
And there truly was no tomorrow for most of the soldiers behind us. The first half of the bridge gave in completely as the iron chains securing it into place snapped. I could hear screaming behind me as soldiers fell into the river down below together with two large creatures. Everyone immediately rode closer to the other side, especially after the edge of the bridge started to crumble further.
Finally, we made it through while my saviour stood completely still on the middle of the bridge, waiting for something to happen. She only had this strange dagger in her hand as she stared over towards the other side of the side. Only after a little while did she turn around as none of these demons made a move.
“Cut the bridge off. They could try to jump over the gap.” She said nonchalantly as she stepped through the gate as well.
“At once.” One of the guards of the castle said.
“Constable … how many?” She asked while clothing her eyes.
“26 …” He said after counting everyone.
“Hmm … girl. I don’t know what she wants from you, but I dearly hope you are worth the 274 deaths in my unit alone.” She said grimly and turned around as the earth shook. Through the gaps of the closing gate, I could see how one of these large creatures stumbled on the intact side of the bridge, at least for a second or so. The bridge immediately gave in, the iron chains snapped and everything tumbled down into the river followed by a loud animalistic scream.
“We are lucky that they aren’t exactly smart …” She mumbled and strode past us without giving me another glance. But she didn´t need to. The village had around sixty inhabitants … and even all of them didn´t die because of me, these 274 definitely did.
I awoke in a gentle warmth on a hard ground. I heard screaming around me, and honestly, I wanted to join these men. I lost everything. Nothing was left. With a very high probability, I was still in shock, but I knew we weren’t out of danger as I opened my eyes and noticed the very stressed gaze of battle hardened soldiers, all wearing black armour.
I tried to sit upright, but a gentle and yet firm hand hindered me from doing so. As soon as I noticed that, I looked upwards to a man who stared at me without any emotions. He was around thirty, had beard stubbles and blonde short hair, ideal for fighting. He only shook his head and closed his eyes once again as the man right next to me started to scream in agony.
The interior clearly indicated this was a tavern, but the screams all around me certainly proved otherwise. After hours of screaming from different men in which I could only close my eyes, another person finally arrived. He walked over his comrades with heavy steps and stopped only as he was to my right.
“I really want to throw her in front of these demons right now.” The one who just entered growled unhappily.
“And what would that change, Allen?” The one holding me down earlier said.
“That girl could act as a human shield for once, dear Constable.” There was a lot of bad blood between them, even I noticed that with my closed eyes, horrible scenes flashing in front of me.
“Orders are orders.” The constable stated dryly.
“These orders are shit. Why do we need to save a random village girl? Look at her, she can’t even open her eyes because she is too scared of me.” I opened my teary eyes in defiance. I was weak, I couldn’t do anything, he was completely right. But if I made myself small, if I wailed in misery, I was sure that all these lives were lost for nothing. And that was something I couldn’t accept.
“She is a little girl, what do you expect?” The constable asked and grabbed Allen´s hand as he reached towards his scabbard.
“More. Something that tells me all these lost lives are worth it.” I couldn’t show him that. Nothing I could do would prove that my life was worth more than theirs … and I knew I never could do that.
“I never asked you to save me.” I said weakly.
“Oh, she can speak! Maybe she can even tel-“ The door opened with a bang as a bloodied figure stepped inside, with bits of organs still on her hood that revealed a beautiful blonde haired woman beneath it. She glanced at me once, and then strolled through the room towards the bar without any apparent interest in me.
“Allen, how often do I need to tell you to shut your foul mouth in front of women? Constable Payne, how many?” She asked in a commanding voice while reaching over the counter to retrieve a bottle of wine.
“One hundred and twelve.” The constable said quietly.
“With or without the wounded?” The woman asked and emptied everything above her head, washing blood off her waterproof coat and cleaning it slightly.
“… with.” The constable said even more quietly. The woman looked around the room once, probably counting the ten odd wounded and then nodded.
“Make them ready to be transported. We will head out in ten minutes.” She commanded and was already on the way out as Allen spoke up once more.
“But madam, none of these here is ready for transport.” He claimed. Even I who knew nothing about healing patients knew that some of them were at death´s door already.
“Do you see a priest somewhere? Any healer? No, because you failed to protect him.” The blonde woman said with scorn in her voice. I shrunk back a bit from the sheer pressure I felt, even though her fury was directed at Allen.
“He couldn’t even defend himself against two goblins!” Allen tried to defend himself, but the woman didn’t seem to care much.
“Time is ticking. We are already too deep in enemy territory. We cannot waste any more time, so shut up and do your work.” She growled at him and already reached for the black sword on her hip.
“Fine.” Allen said meekly.
“Girl, get up.” She said towards me angrily. With the help of the constable, I managed to stand up slowly and walk towards her with wobbly legs. She even held the door open for me, revealing the sunrise on the horizon. We were in a different village, devoid of any humans except the soldiers who fed their horses and kept watch.
“Did Irminsul sent you?” I asked, guessing that she was the one who got me out of the barn. I only earned a glare from her as a response in the beginning, but then she closed her green eyes.
“Stop asking useless questions. Do you know how to ride a horse?” She asked and waved a few guards over and pointed towards the tavern. They immediately understood and began with carrying their wounded onto a simple cart.
“… no.” I admitted. I didn´t know how to ride a horse as I simply never saw one before.
“Fine. Constable, she is all yours again. Get going, three minutes left.” She said and straddled a horse right next to us. “And you “ She pointed at me. “Don’t mess this up again.”
“I … what did I do wrong?” She didn´t answer, but rather dug her heels into the side of the horse, riding away from the village towards the sunrise.
“Don’t stand around like you grew roots. Come here.” The constable said in a hurry and lifted me up onto the horse he sat on. Once again, I was in front of him, remembering the previous night. But somehow, I managed to pull myself together and ignore all the pain in my chest. Desperately, I clung onto life, even though I was responsible for so many deaths. Even though I couldn’t save my parents. My friends … and everyone else.
A few minutes later, we rode out of the village again with me in the middle of the wedge formation, the cart with the wounded right behind us. That woman was nowhere to be in sight again, but I could hear the screams of demons towards the east as we headed south through flatlands. Occasionally, a lone monstrosity stood in our path and sometimes there were even groups of them. More lives were lost as we broke through these groups time and time again, or as we tried to avert a large, green creature swinging a tree around as a club. But the soldiers even managed to overcome this creature as it was thankfully slower than the horses.
“Blackleigh Hold in sight Constable! It is surrounded by monsters, but the backwards fortifications seem to hold!” A nearby soldier who let himself fall back screamed towards us.
“The bridge?” The constable asked strangely hopeful.
“Still lowered, Sire!” The other soldier answered with a grin on his face.
“Thank the gods …” The constable said quietly. “now we only have to wait for …” He looked behind us and even though I couldn´t see his expression, I knew that his silence wasn’t a positive sign. “well, there is only one way for us now.”
Everyone in the formation panicked a little as a loud scream of agony erupted to our side and revealed the woman, followed by a whole horde of these red eyed bulls that destroyed the barn door like it was nothing.
As we got close towards the fortress and the gap between the woman and the bulls closed, I could finally see the fortress as well. It was built over a large canyon, etched into the ground by a river that could be heard from hundreds of metres away. The fortress was thus built on both sides of the river, with a large stone bridge in the middle, secured to either side of the fortress by thick iron chains. Our side of the fortress seemed to be given up as I could spot a few demons sleeping there, leaning onto the wall. The other side though was still manned with soldiers, shooting arrows and spells as the hordes of demons trying to break through an iron gate.
“Slow down!” The constable screamed, his on sword now in his hand and pointing it towards the open gate of the first portion where a sheer endless number of demons just waited for our arrival. The whole formation slowed down in an instant, enabling the woman and the bulls who apparently only had eyes for her to ride past us into the masses of screaming demons. I could see her horse running into the demons, sending a few of them flying and then, there was just chaos as the bulls followed suit.
And even then, these bulls just didn´t stop. They kept on going, sending their own comrades flying in a race to reach that woman who I could see from time to time, running through all these demons, evading attacks like it was nothing and sometimes, even slashing at them with a dagger clad in electricity.
“Charge!” The constable screamed, just as four huge green monsters woke up to our sides. We already lost a few men to one of these creatures while running away from them prior. We could do the same here, but there was a horde of very angry bulls in front of us, not to speak about the still closed iron door.
After battling through what the bulls left alive, we somehow managed to keep the distance between us and these big monstrosities stable and even got onto the bridge somehow. Arrows and different spells crashed down around us, wreaking havoc to anything except us. But these creatures could take it. At least the soldiers on the wall managed to thin the horde of bulls considerably, which enabled us to get onto the bridge somewhat safely. Despite being out of stone, I seriously doubted it was made for this weight, especially because it looked quite old.
Once again, electricity cracked in front of us, hitting most of the bulls in one go. Even though they weren’t killed by that, they were paralyzed for quite some time, which led to a swift massacre of them by either arrows or swords.
The problem at this point were the big green monstrosities behind us which were previously asleep and only woke up as the bulls crashed into their comrades. Nobody would be able to fight them, especially because I could see that woman stumbling over the battlefield, clearly tired and not in any shape to fight on much longer.
“Open the gates!” The constable screamed as the first one of these huge monsters stepped onto the bridge. I could feel the stone beneath the horses’ hooves trembling under the weight of these creatures. Everyone knew they were treading over the abyss which could devour them every second. At least the iron door opened slowly and the iron grating behind it rose slowly as well. The first soldiers were already rushing towards the small opening, spurring their tired horses as if there was no tomorrow.
And there truly was no tomorrow for most of the soldiers behind us. The first half of the bridge gave in completely as the iron chains securing it into place snapped. I could hear screaming behind me as soldiers fell into the river down below together with two large creatures. Everyone immediately rode closer to the other side, especially after the edge of the bridge started to crumble further.
Finally, we made it through while my saviour stood completely still on the middle of the bridge, waiting for something to happen. She only had this strange dagger in her hand as she stared over towards the other side of the side. Only after a little while did she turn around as none of these demons made a move.
“Cut the bridge off. They could try to jump over the gap.” She said nonchalantly as she stepped through the gate as well.
“At once.” One of the guards of the castle said.
“Constable … how many?” She asked while clothing her eyes.
“26 …” He said after counting everyone.
“Hmm … girl. I don’t know what she wants from you, but I dearly hope you are worth the 274 deaths in my unit alone.” She said grimly and turned around as the earth shook. Through the gaps of the closing gate, I could see how one of these large creatures stumbled on the intact side of the bridge, at least for a second or so. The bridge immediately gave in, the iron chains snapped and everything tumbled down into the river followed by a loud animalistic scream.
“We are lucky that they aren’t exactly smart …” She mumbled and strode past us without giving me another glance. But she didn´t need to. The village had around sixty inhabitants … and even all of them didn´t die because of me, these 274 definitely did.
