If I’m completely honest, I was a little worried about passing through the ruins of Mountain Guard. Yes, I had walked through it last night, but that had been under the cover of all of my stealth abilities. Abilities that had let me walk through a dragon’s lair once upon a time. This time however we were running through unsafe territory moving so fast and so loud that we might as well have been ringing a dinner bell. I looked around at the brave marines who’d be escorting us, how many of them would survive the journey? And what about the journey back when the monsters were all riled up? These questions ran through my head as the wall of 4 legged monsters and men clad in gleaming metal started trotting towards the ruins.
We started off with a slow trot to let everyone get a feel for the movements of the group. I figured it was also to let us and our mounts get used to travelling as a pack. We trotted for about 500 feet before Wesley called for everyone to canter, I wobbled in my saddle as my mount sped up. I looked over to see my friends riding elegantly and I cursed myself internally for never having spent enough time learning the riding skill. It would have made this less of an ordeal as I bounced up and down haphazardly, worried that I’d fall off at any second. We carried on like this for another few hundred feet before Wesley’s next order turned my ordeal traumatic.
“Gallop.” Wesley called in a commanding voice. Our quick pace turned into a high speed advance and all I could do was hold on for my life and pray that I didn’t fall off. The only reason I knew that we were getting closer to the city was that the sound of the horses hooves, they went from the pounding of beast on dirt to the ringing of horse shoes on cobblestones.
We exploded through the ruins of the gatehouse as the sound of our Cloudy Arrow Formation echoed loudly against the mostly destroyed of the buildings of Main Street. The road was large enough for our thundering formation, I wanted to look at the buildings now that I could see them properly, but I knew if I turned my head I’d fall. I heard a grunt from the soldier next to me and saw him swing his sword, green blood flew up into the air and coated the end of the sword. I realised that we must have come across some monsters already. I was a little surprised that the charging formation hadn’t slowed but then their orders were not to stop.
“RIGHT TURN 75 FEET” Wesley shouted from right behind me and I almost leapt off my horse in fright. How did he manage to get his voice to be so loud?
A few seconds later I watched the marines in front of me lean into their horses as they made a sharp right hand turn. I leaned forwards just like they'd done and was almost thrown from my saddle as my mount turned, I gripped the reins and saddle horn so tight I could see my knuckles turning white. The street we'd turned onto had to have been Chapel Road and as I risked looking over the heads of the riders in the front, I saw that the road curved to the left. I wondered if the curve was significant when I head Wesley’s next shout.
“PIERCING LANCE.” He shouted and the formation seemed to elongate but also become a lot thinner. My horse dropped behind Clair’s as we charged and I was suddenly sandwiched between two of the marines who’d been at the edges. I wondered why he’d changed the formation when we passed though the first barricade.
I had seen the barricades all over the city last night, there were squat things that were made of logs, doors, tables, chairs, carriages, wagons and anything else that could be used to make it harder for the goblins to pass unhindered. They had looked more formidable in the dark of the night however in the light of day, flying past at ludicrous speeds, they looked like a child’s attempt at defences. I couldn’t imagine how long they’d held up against the invading horde. I heard something let out an inhuman scream from the front of the formation and I saw black blood splatter across Clair’s white horse. I looked at my soul lantern to see that it was pulsing green as small orbs were sucked into it. We must have hit something and trampled it to death, that was the only conclusion I reached before we were through and clear of the barrier.
The thundering horse hooves drowned out any more sounds as we continued to speed down Chapel Road. I’d hoped that the formation would open up again but we passed through yet another barrier. This time the formation slowed down as the horses dipped in the road and kicked up a lot of water, or at least I hoped it was water. The dark liquid running down Clair’s horse made me not want to think too hard about it.
"PUSH FORWARDS, CLOUD ARROW." Wesley called and everyone picked up the pace again.
The formation rose up again and the horses got back up to a gallop, the marines either side of me moved away and my horse raced to catch up to Clair. I frowned as I saw some of the marines in the front change position, I wasn’t sure why but then I saw someone cast a spell on one of the horses. A long cut that gushed blood slowly sealed up. I guess that the creature we’d come across had tried to fight back but luckily no one had died yet. We continued on the curved road for a while, I had no idea how long since I was holding onto my horse for dear life. I’d never ridden this fast and was expecting the monster to try and buck me off at any second. There was a call from the marines a few times as either goblins or skeleton archers took potshots at us but they were blocked by the study shields all of the marines wore.
"LEFT TURN 100 FEET AFTER NEXT RUIN." Wesley shouted.
I looked up to see that most of the road was blocked off by what looked like a house that had collapsed onto the road. The rubble seemed to have collapsed over a barricade however something has made a large hole in the debris, I gaged the width and it seemed large enough for the whole formation to fit through it. I shuddered to thing what was capable of making such a large hole but I was thankful we didn’t have to face it. We raced through the rubble like every other barrier and carried on down the road, I saw the gap in the building that signified the left hand turn. The first of the formation turned and again the riders leaned into the turn, I tried to copy them again. On the positive side, I didn’t get thrown off my horse. On the negative side, I may have squashed body parts that are best left unsquashed. I winced as I righted myself and saw that we had burst into what should have been an empty market square. Instead I saw, and remembered, the second most gruesome sight from last night.
The market square was huge, it could have easily housed most of the Adventure Society buildings in Sunak. On a busy day it would have been a huge hub of activity where nobles and peasants would have rubbed shoulders and the pickpockets would have made enough to live like kings. Now however, the centre of the square was taken up by a large makeshift fortress. Tables, chairs, wooden beams, metal plates and various other materials had been used to assemble improvised walls that covered most of the square. It looked like they’d even managed to build 2 towers and some narrow choke points that the monsters had to squeeze through. It would have been a glorious sight if they had managed to fend off the hoard. What was left of the fort was burnt out and shattered, dead bodies covered every inch of ground around the broken walls and a few were even slumped over the top of them. I’d seen the inside of the ruin last night and I knew it looked worse.
"CIRCLE RIGHT, STAY IN FORMATION." Wesley shouted.
We kept away from the fort and stuck to the outside of the square as we thundered our way around it. I saw heads rise among the hundreds of bodies at the sound of our passage, I looked on in horror as ghouls exploded towards us at a freighting speed. If we weren’t riding they would have chased us down. I didn't know how many began to chase us, but the air all around us lit up in a multitude of different colours as the marines used spells and abilities to cut down the number of trailing monsters. I saw bolts of fire, ice and lightning, balls of acid, magic missiles and even a void ball that Wesley fired at them. Most of them missed the leading ghouls however there were enough of them that they still hit a something.
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I thought about firing a few spells of my own but I didn't trust my horse not to buck me the second I loosened my grip on the saddle horn. To my horror, I realised that they were gaining on us. Normally a horse could out run a ghoul but with all of the armour that they were wearing, the marines and the armour that they wore it slowed the horses down. Gradually the distance between us and them shortened, I began to hear the shrieks and cries over the pounding of the horses hooves. I watched the spells continuously miss the few leading ghouls and I was starting to worry about the marines at the back of the formation.
"RIGHT TURN 75 FEET." Wesley shouted and I felt everyone pick up the pace just a little bit more.
We made the turn as the first of the ghouls lunged at us, I looked back to see ghouls skidding and crashing into each other as they overshot the corner. More spells fired back at the mass of monsters in rapid succession as we sped away. I tried to look around to see if we'd lost any of the marines but my horse bucked a little and I almost flew off. I gripped the saddle horn harder and kept my eyes locked in front of me. Ahead of us the gatehouse stood tall, a beacon of safety. If we could get past there, we could easily defend ourselves without worrying about ambushes or other monsters joining.
In between us and the gatehouse were more barricades that had been erected, each of them destroyed. As we passed through the first one I briefly saw a goblin leap off of a wall at us. We were gone by the time that it had started to fall, I turned my head to see it land and instantly disappear under the ghouls. I turned back just in time to see arrows flying through the air towards us. I opened my mouth to say something but liquid of some sort, I prayed it was water, splashed across my face causing me to cough and splutter. When I managed to get my vision cleared, I looked up to see the lead marine slip from his saddle. There were 2 arrows sticking out the front of his helmet. I grimaced as my soul lantern glowed a bright green for a second as his soul was safely stored within.
“LIAM!” Someone screamed.
“SHIELDS HIGH RIGHT.” Someone else called out a warning.
“DON'T STOP!” Wesley ordered.
A huge roar echoed off the walls and reverberated its way to us. I flinched at the sound, whatever it was, it had to be large and pissed off. I was very thankful that the horses kept on charging, regardless of the roar. A quick glance over my shoulder showed that the ghouls hadn't slowed down either, if anything they'd sped up. I was now very worried that we were going to end up a ghoul dinner as we passed though another destroyed barrier. Our horses had to be tiring and the gatehouse was still at least ? of a mile away, even then we needed to get out of the city and form a defensive line in order to have a change of holding off the ghoul horde. The roar came again but this time I felt it in my bones, it was deep and bassy filled with angry and outrage. The closest thing I could liken it to was a dragon realising that it’d been robbed. I almost let go of the saddle horn to cover my ears but I remembered that my horse would love nothing better than to buck me and leave me to the ghouls. Instead I frantically looked around to see if there was a dragon or something flying over the city. I didn’t see anything but as we passed through the next destroyed barricade I turned my head to the right and I locked eyes with a very, very large troll. Time seemed to slow down as I took in the details of the monster.
The troll looked to be at least 15 feet tall, with blue bumpy skin that made it look like it was partially made of stone. It had a long nose that drooped over a mouth that didn’t quite close all the way due to the many jagged teeth that poked out. Its eyes were a malicious red and it was in the process of swinging a club that looked more like a mature oak tree. My danger sense started going crazy for a few seconds as my horse kept on charging forwards, as it stopped there was a world shattering boom from right behind me. I craned my neck to see that the troll’s tree-club had come down just in front of the broken barricade, to my horror I saw that there were 2 horse heads poking out from underneath it. I didn't know if any more marines had been crushed by the tree-club or if there were any stuck on the wrong side of it. The only positive thing that I could take away from it was that the ghouls didn't continue pursuing us. I would have expected them to instantly start scaling the barricade but as the troll lifted its tree-club, I saw that the small horde was nowhere to be seen. If anyone had been left on the other side, they were gone as well. The troll reached down and grabbed part of a crushed horse and dropped it into its mouth.
I grimaced and turned away from the gruesome sight just in time for the remainder of our formation to burst out of the enclosed street into a large plaza. There were a few barricades that had been mostly destroyed, bodies littered the ground around large holes in the walls where the goblin army had breached the walls. Ahead of us the gatehouse stood tall, however it also looked like a strong breeze would cause the whole building to collapse. The large portcullis that had once held back the Nurem Army, lay on the floor like a forgotten and discarded child's toy. The section of the building that was meant to hold it in place was completely destroyed, I gulped trying to imagine a monster that would’ve been able to do that. I was glad we didn't have to clear out the city.
We raced through what remained of the gatehouse like the ghouls were still at our heels. Our first sight of the hill down to the rest of the kingdom was bleak, green fields had become mud pits, scorched land or had large scars where boulders had landed and rolled through the goblin army. We kept moving further and further away from the city, not slowing down, I couldn't see anything chasing up but I guessed that the monsters in the city weren't forced to stay there so they might give chase if they saw us. I could feel my horse begin to tire and it started to lag behind the others, before I could say anything Wesley barked out a new order.
"SQUAD, HALF PACE." Wesley shouted and we all slowed to a trot. “Eyes and ears open, it might be part of the kingdom but right now, it might as well be enemy territory.”
I could feel everyone tense at Wesley's orders and he wasn't wrong. Weeks before Mountain Guard came under siege, reinforcement requests were sent out to every garrison but only half of the marines returned to the capitol. That meant that either the marines were delayed or, more likely, they were attacked and killed to increase the size of the necromancer's army. No one had heard from any of them since before the battle at The Folly and there hadn’t been any reports on the state of the kingdom. As far as we knew, Sunak was the only city left standing.
“How far do you intend to escort us?” Harold asked when we were around a mile away from the city and Wesley hadn’t ordered the Marines to stop. “Don't get me wrong, we appreciate the extra eyes but you should be able to spot anything that comes out of the city from here.”
“We are going to the bottom of the slope,” Wesley replied, “I have a secondary mission that can only be completed down there.” He nodded down to the bottom of the slope.
I wasn’t surprised that the Captain had used our mission to try and complete a mission of his own, it only made sense and at least, in this new uncharted area, it wasn’t just us. I must admit I was feeling a bit of trepidation heading out into the countryside. Sure, we'd travelled all around the kingdom completing quests, tracking down various bandits and monsters but that had been before an army of monsters had trampled through it. Now, there could be ambushes anywhere, natural sources of food such as wild deer or foraging bushes were more than likely gone. It had become more like The Wilds rather than part of the kingdom.
The canter down the slope was long and boring. To keep myself occupied I'd taken time to look at our surroundings however, the only things of note were dead goblin bodies filled with arrows or partially destroyed by magic of some sort or piles of bones that had once been a skeleton. A great sadness welled up inside of me as I remembered hunting rabbits on the slope, they were probably all gone now and it would take years for them to come back, if they did at all. My sadness only grew the further down we travelled, many happy memories destroyed by the rampaging horde.
"What the in hells?" Wesley said with a sense of disbelief entering into his voice.
We'd almost reached the bottom of the slope and had come to a stop atop a rise that jutted out and made a good place to observe the kingdom's southern road. What had drawn Wesley's attention was a camp of familiar white tents that had been erected just out of sight of the slope.
