Chapter Fifty - Ambush

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

  “This isn’t good,” Amaryllis said. Her knife-wand slid into her hand from somewhere and began to crackle with aric hum. “Cover the rear,” she said.

  I nodded and spun around, my backpaing off to be tossed to the side as I pulled my shovel off my pad held it before me. “Insight,” I muttered.

  A fident Cervid Lancer, level ?.

  A fident Cervid Runner, level ??.

  A bored Cervid Pins Speaker, level ?.

  “They’re pretty strong,” I said. That had just beehree that snuck up behind us. I was willing to bet the leader was even stronger.

  “We take them,” Amaryllis said, her voice brimming with fidehat I didn’t doubt for a moment was fake. “It’s just three on six.”

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

  Lig my lips, I stepped up towards the 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 ologies.”

  “Five, Six, you’re on the sedary target. Two, Three, Four, you’re 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 wearis of one sort or another, and all of them had padded clothes on, like my gambeson but stretched out over their entire bodies. Ns that I could tell except for thin e 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. It’s me they’re after.”

  “No,” I said. That wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t 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 pilr of bluish light as thick around as my wrist shot out and hit one of the deer folk.

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

  I didn’t have time to feel pity for him.

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

  I froze for just a moment, the crag of their hooves oone bridge like mae 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 e collided with the Lancer’s fad his spear slid past me, cutting a hot lio 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 Pins Speaker looked up to me in time to win a foot to the face. I used him as a springboard to nd on the hip-high stone railing of the bridge.

  This wasn’t some fight in a dungeohe enemies were only mostly real. This was dangerous, truly dangerous.

  Amaryllis was dug 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 translut shields around that took Amaryllis’ attacks without so much as a shudder. “e, help her!” I screamed.

  I didn’t want to fight, I didn’t want to hurt people. I didn’t want to be attacked. And I especially didn’t 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 bst of ing magic right in his face. He stumbled back, which gave me all the time I o 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 didn’t have time to follow up as the Pins Speaker flung his arms out at me, a opening wide in the air between us.

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

  The Lancer shifted his helmet ba pce with one hand and looked ready for more.

  And noithout a on.

  I jumped, flying over the Pins Speaker.

  He raised both hands to catch me but I brought one arm up and poi at his face. “Fireball!” I screamed.

  The Pins Speaker shielded his face.

  No fireballs happened.

  I did get to nd on the opposite railing without any issue though. My spear was o my backpack, but I didn’t have time to grab it. Instead I pressed both feet against the rail and shot backwards as hard and fast as I could, my legs springing out to trail behind me.

  I crashed into the Pins Speaker shoulder-first.

  The breath escaped from his lungs with an ‘oomph’ aumbled backwards until he ressed up against the rails.

  The Lancer had moved out of the way and was stabbing for me again. I don’t know how I avoided the stab, it was all a blur of scrambling limbs to try and not get poked by the shining tip of his spear.

  I grabbed the end of the nce just behind the metal spike at its end and, with my entire weight behind it, swung it around and into the Pins Speaker’s side.

  The Pins Speaker yowled as his partner’s spear cut through his cloth armour. The Lancer ya bad out of my grip, but the damage was done.

  I froze for a moment as blood spurted out of the wound and onto my hands.

  It was hot.

  The Lancer’s foot kicked out and I coughed as a steel-shod hoof buried itself in my side.

  I crashed to the ground. Rocks dug into my palms and knees as I tried to gather my breath and fight through the pain.

  A shadow moved above me. The Lancer, his spear raised up to strike.

  I rolled backwards, a move that I hadn’t done since gym css some time ago. I was soon uhe Lancer, on my back with my legs above me.

  My stamina dropped to near-empty. “Meanie!” I screamed as both feet crashed into his chest in what would have beero jump I ever made, were I standing up.

  The Lancer went flying.

  He was lighter than I would have thought, barely heavier than I was when wearing my full pad gear.

  The st I saw of him were filing limbs as he went over the railing and spshed into the water.

  No ‘ding’ that annouhat I had killed anyone. Good.

  I anting and rolling onto my feet when a hoof rammed into my side a my rolling across the bridge. “Ah!” I tried to scream, but my lungs hurt too much.

  With tears in my eyes I looked up to find the Pins Speaker walking up to me. He was fav his injured side and had taken off his helmet. It was ying off on the ground some feet away.

  His expression wasn’t pretty. “Filthy human scum,” he spat out before shing out with another kick.

  I couldn't do much to stop this oher except to curl into a ball around the impay stomad try to keep my lunside as pain roiled ay chest.

  “Making me look like an--” he began, then stopped.

  Amaryllis screamed.

  We both looked over to see her pio the ground, the long shaft of a spear through her thigh.

  “No,” I said.

  “Hah, see what happens when--” the Pins Speaker began to say as he turned bae.

  I wasn’t where he had left me.

  My shaking hand ched the edge of the helmet he dropped.

  The cervid turned around just as I swung with every st bit of strength I had left in me. His helmet caught him full in the side of the face.

  I saw a tooth fly.

  “Don’t!” I said.

  I swung iher dire and caught him in the forehead.

  “Hurt.”

  This time the point of the helmet caught him across his deer-like ched.

  “My.”

  He was falling back, eyes watery and wide, blood spurting out of his nose as he exhalled. I couldn’t reach his faymore. 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 bay chest. The helmet, with its pointy edges, stayed stu the Cervid’s chest armour.

  I was breathing in gasps as I cradled a wrist that wasn’t bending the right way.

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

  “Kill her?” One of them asked.

  “No,” the leader said. “She’s a witness. Where’s Five?

  One of them, the mage, snorted. “Went over the edge. He’s 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 a me flying back.

  I wished that the world went bck, that I would fade into the abyss of unsciousness. No such luck. I writhed on the ground, tears streaming ah grit against the pain. I saw the Pins Speaker, looking the worse for wear, stopping above me.

  His hoof came doself on my leg and twisted.

  “Six!” the leader called back over my scream. “We’re going. Leave her.”

  “Tch,” Six, the Pins Speaker said.

  He spat on me and walked away with a limp.

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

  Then their voices faded away into the dista didn’t matter to me.

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

  I flung the gss aside with a cry.

  My backpack was still there. Someone had kicked it, but it was otherwise untouched. They weren’t bandits here for our stuff.

  I crawled to it.

  Health 31/120Stamina 02/125Mana 79/115

  I wasn’t bleeding, not much that I could tell, but I was hurting all over. I didn’t want to wait and see if I would heal over time.

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

  Then e came closer and I saw the kitty climb into the backpack. She came out with a potioweeeeth.

  “Thanks,” I said. The cork came off. I dow in one swallow. It was surprisingly sweet.

  Health 37/120Stamina 02/125Mana 79/115

  My health was tig upwars, a point every few seds. I found a sed potion and drank it too.

  The pai, but it was slow. A soothing warmth that bahe 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.

  SpoilerDon't you love it when the weekend starts with a cliff-hanger like that?Neter on Monday where we begiion Save the Birb!

  I might be making a special post soon to annouhe unch of the amon Bun (Kindle) Ebook on Amazon! It includes chapters 0 to 66, a fes, and some fun!

  But if you want to read even further than that, then joireon to gain access up to chapter 99! That's a whopping 102K of amon Bun!

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