We had waited for night to fully settle before heading towards the church. My night vision might not be great, but with tremorsense it wasn't much of a problem. Besides, I had both Damian and Matilda to guide me, both had great night vision. This did leave me being forced to carry our fourth member, Anna, as her senses were not nearly as developed.

  My new instincts were NOT happy about this, but it was better than the smaller snake constantly bumping into me. That had had me constantly having to fight off the urge to loudly hiss or bite the woman every time she accidentally bumped me which was simply not acceptable.

  "Hold up a minute Joe," Matilda called while we were still roughly a mile out from the church, "They've still got a few sentries on watch. Give me and Damian a moment to clear them out."

  I nodded and settled in under a bridge as both drifted out of sight into the night. I was content to wait, watching the smaller moth Matilda had left behind for a signal. Anna soon started to get restless.

  "You said that you know what's wrong at Stonewall," she asked quietly, a soft tremble running through her body. Probably fear as I doubt her animal instincts were any happier about this arrangement than mine were. "Could you tell me please?"

  "Yeah, you know those boars that walk around like gorillas?" At her nod I continued, "There seems to be around eight groups of them, numbering between a dozen to a score each, laying siege to the place. We're going to try and quietly remove the sentries they have watching the place and sneak inside to find out what their conditions are like. From there we are going to decide if we evacuate the building, gather a relief force, or sally forth to break the siege.

  "Personally I'm hoping to leave all of the groupings either wiped out or brutally devastated. I don't want these pigs to think attacking people is tolerable behavior." That's what I get for thinking the things would keep themselves in line without a show of force. Even relatively domesticated animals like horses or dogs sometimes needed to be given a smack to be taught not to do something. If nearly a fifth of the human population were literally incapable of behaving without the unseen club of violence hanging over them I honestly don't know why I expected better of an animal as aggressive and destructive as boars. At least no one could say I hadn't given these a chance.

  "Do you think everyone is still alive?" Anna asked with hopeful worry.

  "I doubt everyone is," I answered honestly, "but I wager at least half the people in the community still are considering the siege is still ongoing and Matilda said she didn't see obvious signs of a breach. If the pigs haven't already stormed the place it's probably because they aren't confident they could do so successfully."

  Anna seemed less than happy with my answer, or maybe she was still worried I was about to attack her. Admittedly my animal side was screaming at me to do so still, so perhaps hers was screaming at her to get away before I attacked her.

  I opened my mouth to say something when Matilda's little moth started signing at us. 'Ahead slow'? I think. Bother. I wish she knew Morse Code, I know that way better than Semaphore.

  Creeping down the road as quietly as a road roller over gravel I caught up to Matilda herself sitting on a concrete divider between the freeway. A flick of my tongue caught the heavy scent of fresh blood. Following the smell led me to discover Damian standing all but invisible in the night nearby, his right side absolutely drenched in blood. Looking at the condition of his clothes, none of it was his, which was a major relief.

  "We've managed to neutralize one of the groups surrounding the place, but have a new problem." Damian said, pausing to idly lick at the blood on his arm. He jerked the arm away with an almost embarrassed look. "Whoever's at the church has built a wall around it by running dozens of inch thick strands of silk between light poles and trees around the parking lot." He continued, "This means getting you two in without either making a lot of noise or a hole in their defenses will be tricky."

  "Currently our best idea is for me to carry Damian in and try to convince them to briefly open a hole in the wall to let you in." Matilda took over, "The problem with that is that's likely to get spotted by other sentries and it gives the pigs a chance to attack. Not to mention that these people might be jumpy enough to attack something coming over their walls at o’ dark thirty."

  "We could dig a tunnel," I pointed out, "Three of us are rather good at digging. It would also give us a good way to evacuate the building if necessary."

  "We considered that," Damian sighed, "Problem there is noise and time. If we want it done fast we'd need to dig close to the surface and that would be heard. These things might have shit eyesight, but their hearing was sharp enough to follow Matilda's larger moths. If we don't want to be heard, we'd have to dig deep and that would take time. The rest of the night for sure, possibly days if we want to make sure the pigs don't find it."

  "Uhm, not to sound presumptuous, but why don't you three just kill the rest of the boar-monkeys in their sleep?" Anna asks from my back.

  "We barely managed to take this group down quietly," Matilda admitted, "They got very close to getting a shout off, and this was one of the smaller groups."

  "Yeah, no way we win if we alert this makeshift army." I nod solemnly, "Ten of these things were enough to overpower me a couple days ago, a hundred is certain doom."

  "O-oh," Anna whimpered.

  "It might just be best to just jump the wall," Matilda pointed out, "Yes the sound of you landing will alert everything for miles, but it gets us inside quickly to check on the survivors."

  "It also makes our options for breaking the siege much more difficult," I countered, "Once they find the group you dealt with I don't see them remaining so lax in their defenses so we won't be able to pick off groups as easily. It would also make getting out a far harder task if we need to evacuate people that are seriously injured." I pondered a moment, "You said that their fence is made up of threads, any chance that Anna and I could squeeze through? We are snakes, we can fit into some pretty tight spaces despite our size."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "I already thought of that and have been actively checking and so far all the holes are small enough that I don't see that as being possible." Matilda shook her head sadly, "Whoever built their fence did a very good job of it, there's barely any enough room for my smallest moths to fly between the gaps, no way we fit through something as big as you."

  "Damn, guess we aren't going to stumble into a perfect solution," I grumbled, "Yeah, try flying over and getting them to open a hole for us. If they won't at least try to open dialog with them so we at least find out what they need, are capable of, and maybe coordinate a strike with them. Leave a moth here so if they turn violent for some reason you can signal me to jump in and 'discourage' such behaviors."

  "Don't worry Joe," Damian chuckled, drawing his borrowed knife and revolver, striking what he probably thought was a cool pose. I'd give it a five of ten at best, not dynamic enough or taking advantage of the fact he's half covered in blood. "I'll be there with her in case things go south."

  "I'm sure you will be a most effective guardian," Matilda cooed with a tone of voice like a grandmother pinching the cheek of a precocious child, "Come along now, I can only carry you so far after all. I'm hardly as big as Joe."

  Watching the two head off into the dark as one of Matilda's moths settled on the tip of my nose, I gave a couple cautious breaths to make sure I wouldn't accidentally inhale the thing. I did not want a repeat of the incident where Matilda had rammed one of those things up my nose. When it was clear that wouldn't happen I settled as best as I could with multiple tons of additional snake on my back. I had no clue how long this would take after all and might as well catch a couple winks of sleep while I wait. I occasionally lightly tapped my tail blade against the ground to trigger a burst of vision via my tremorsense just in case something tried to sneak up on me.

  While I was settling down to wait, Anna seemed to be riling herself up with worry. After maybe five minutes of waiting she asked, "Are you sure they'll be okay on their own?"

  "No, but I'm confident they can take care of themselves long enough for help to arrive if things go wrong." I commented without opening my eyes.

  "But they're so small." She fretted, "Just about anything could overwhelm them."

  "No, we're just big." I corrected, "Besides, being small doesn't mean they're helpless. I've seen the smallest guy I've met hold off five guys on his own and the biggest guy I've seen die to people smaller than his head. Both of them have fought creatures dozens of times their size and won. Relax."

  She worries as much as I do. I thought with an amused snort.

  The moth on my nose suddenly fluttered its wings loud enough for me to crack an eye open. It then quickly started signaling a long complex chain of signs I simply didn't follow.

  "Uh, sorry Matilda, but my flag reading isn't that good yet."

  This made the little moth bristle and start batting aggressively at my nose. I could easily imagine the older woman railing at me for not spending more time learning a useful tool that I myself had suggested to her. The moth then angrily pointed at me then at the ground.

  "You want me to stay here?" I asked in confusion. The little moth nodded, its little antennas wiggling crossly.

  "Why would she contact you to tell you to stay in place?" Anna asked in confusion.

  "I'm pretty sure she was saying something else at first," I chuckled nervously, "Now she's probably coming here in person to relay the message, and likely chew me out a bit. I'm just hoping she doesn't stuff any of her moths up my nose again." The moth at the end of my nose seemed to pause before spinning about to start marching towards my nostrils. Immediately driving my nose into the ground I gave the little drone a glare, "Don't even joke about it missy."

  "But it would be such a good way to make you take your studies seriously. " Matilda called from overhead as she fluttered down and slapped her wing against the side of my head. "Honestly, you suggested this and don't even bother to study? Shameful young man, absolutely shameful."

  "I am studying," I protest, "I only had the dang book for a few hours and have been having to learn the rest from you!"

  The old woman waved her wings and forelegs dismissively, "Bah excuses." She tittered lightly before sobering, "Anyways, I said that we've made contact and the people in the church are willing to fight. They've tried to sally out a few times before, but the pigs have always tried to surround them. They think that with Damian knocking out a few more sentries and me to guide them to the unaware groups they'll be able to finally drive these pigs off."

  "Need me for anything in this plan?" I asked with a coy smile suspecting several rolls I could play in this.

  "You are going to be the signal to kick this off." Matilda stated with a nod, "I remember that crater you made back at the Stadium, something like that could completely wipe out one of these groups. If you strike one of the furthest out groups it should also add to the confusion as the pigs are attacked from two directions. After that just kill until the quest completes."

  "Quest?"

  "Ah, yes. It probably hasn't appeared for you yet. Get closer to the church and it should appear." Matilda spread her wings to leave when Anna spoke up.

  "What about me?" She asks before desperately demanding, "Or Markus? Did you see someone named Markus at the church? He looks like this big squirrel thing with fleshy wings that-"

  "I didn't really have time to look around before coming back dearie," Matilda said softly, walking up to the smaller giant snake to softly pat her snout with a fluffy leg, "I'm sure Markus is fine. Do you want to help fight?"

  "I, I can't see well in this darkness, but I can try." The nervous and obviously distraught woman said.

  "That's wonderful dearie," Matilda cooed before shaking out two more moths from her thick fluff, "Just follow these two and be ready to help out the people of Stonewall. Don't forget to flee if the pigs start to overwhelm you. I'm sure Markus would rather you be alive than to die trying to reach him."

  As my favorite moth walked the woman through the basics of combat, the little moth on my nose slapped my face to get my attention. When I focused on the little thing it turned and pointed into the night. Slithering as quietly as a store full of metal plates being dragged over concrete could, I followed the little bug's directions. After maybe a mile and a half of slithering it raised its little legs to call a halt.

  When I stopped it mixed peering into the distance and pointed. I gave that direction a good squint before rapping my tail against the ground. Through tremorsense I got a brief look at a mass of about twenty boarillas sleeping maybe eight hundred feet away looking sleepily in my direction.

  "I see them," I whispered to the moth, "Just spread your wings when everyone else is ready and I'll kick things off."

  I coiled up, running a bit of Kentucky windage in my head as I waited for the signal. Inside my chest something wild and bloody all but salivating in its eagerness to tear into these pigs. I fought down a vicious giggle as thoughts of violence danced behind my eyes.

  Then the little moth spread its wings.