The Fell War - Chapter 18 (Patreon)

Alfre gripped Beira’s fur as they neared the city. There was no way whoever patrolled the top of the wall, if there was anyone, hadn’t seen them coming. There was no way anyone who patrolled the abandoned districts hadn’t heard the thundering of their steeds. They had to strike hard and they had to strike fast if they were going to get into the third district to break the army and relieve Ren and the others.

She turned to Ran, catching his attention. “I need the gunners to all fire on the gate at the same time. We need to knock it down. We need into the third district.”

Ran nodded, snapping his reigns and steering his elk back into the crowd to gather the gunners. But first, they had to make it through the stragglers in the outer districts.

They’d already gathered, standing together in an attempt to break their advance. Alfre watched as several Fell abandoned their steeds, leaping over the line of shields to attack them from behind. Druids summoned roots and vines to capture the enemy forces and bind them or throw them around like ragdolls. Assassins slipped into the shadows only to reappear on the other side of the wall of knights and bring them down with a well-aimed dagger. Magician buffed and bards debuffed. Knights and samurai clashed head on with the enemy. Alfre caught the briefest glimpse of Canus in wolf form tearing out someone’s throat.

“Alfre!” Ran rode up to her, a contingent of some thirty gunners just behind him. “We’re ready.”

Alfre nodded, urging Beira onwards towards the gate. Those not already engaged with the Granato knights followed behind her. Hunters fired upon the people patrolling the top of the wall, keeping them distracted as the gunners lined up to take their shot.

“Ready!” Alfre shouted. “Fire!”

The sound was deafening – cracking, roaring, ringing in Alfre’s ears. Smoke billowed from the gate, and as it cleared, Alfre could see that they’d blown a giant, gaping opening in the wood.

Silence hung in the air as everyone waited to see what would happen next. In that silence, Alfre drew her rapier with a shaking hand, holding it aloft above her head, and shouted a battle cry in the manner of her ancestors.

“Bide and Fecht! Bide and Fecht! An Gòrdonach!”

Beira charged ahead, howling. A cacophonous roar sounded from the rest of the Fell as they rushed in after her. The city streets swarmed with Granato knights, making it almost impossible to advance. Or, it would have, if it weren’t for the barrage of area of effect spells that fell upon the knights from the staves of magicians and sorcerers and druids.

Alfre could see hunters and assassins climbing to the top of buildings, raining arrows and daggers and all other manner of throwing weapons down on the Granato soldiers. Alfre strained her eyes to find any Fell among the soldiers, but she’d yet to see any.

She broke through the wall of knights with a flurry of ice spears, Beira bounding up the street towards the Cathedral tower in the distance – and the massive tree that covered it. Canus loped along beside her, Elias on the other side atop his elk. She could feel Abital’s presence in her shadow, a strange weight to it that felt surprisingly comforting.

They burst into the square, and Alfre finally found the Fell she had been looking for. Ren was engaged in hand to hand combat with another monk – a hulking man with wild hair and what looked like a bear skin draped around his shoulders. Silver dodged and weaved around the spells of a sorcerer. Spica rained needles down upon an enemy cleric, obviously frustrated by the lack of effect her poisons had on the so-called holy woman. There was another dozen enemy Fell in the square. A near feral looking assassin chased June all through the branches of the druid tree. Makoto was fighting off three other samurai all on her own.

“Enough!” Alfre shouted; her exclamation punctuated by a sudden burst of arctic wind.

She leapt off of Beira and charged into the square on her own, her footsteps leaving swirling, flowery patters of frost behind. She thrust her rapier out towards the cleric Spica was fighting, the blade elongated by a thin spear of frost. The cleric turned to stop her, but Alfre had always been far too fast. The ice pierced the cleric’s chest, spreading frost over her torso before the woman shattered like all defeated Fell do.

Spica jumped down from the low hanging branched shed been perched upon, a smile on her face for the first time in days. “It’s good to see you, Alfre.”

Alfre met her smile in kind. “You, too.”

The assassin turned to the rest of the fighting, her smile morphing into a confident smirk. “Shall we take care of the rest?”

Alfre flicked her blade through the air, reveling in the sound it made. “Of course.”

Abital chose this time to emerge from her shadow, covering the ground in thick, swirling, black smoke, his form much larger than usual. When he spoke, his voice boomed like thunder. “Be warned, cruel ones. You face Alfre, Commander of the Fell Army, Guild Master of the Alliance of Frozen Stars, The Winter Blade, Favored One of the Wilds, She Whom the Great Druid has Blessed, and Death’s Chosen Champion. In her, you face your doom.”

The three samurai Makoto had been facing stumbled back, scrambling away from Abital’s giant form. Ren’s opponent paused to stare in awe, giving Ren the opportunity to use some monk ability Alfre didn’t recognize to shatter him.

The hunter that’d been chasing June laughed maniacally. “I don’t care who you are. You’re just another animal waiting for me to hunt you down and skin you.”

He jumped from the tree, rolling through the landing and rushing for Alfre, dagger at the ready. Alfre took a single step forward, ice erupting from the ground and trapping the hunter. His eyes went wide as Alfre continued to stride forward, freezing rapier blade misting at her side.

“Woah, hold on, man,” the hunter shouted. “It was just a joke. It’s just roleplay, you know? I was just having fun. Don’t kill me, man! C’mon!”

“You think it’s fun to hurt people?” Alfre demanded, her blood boiling even as the air around her froze. “You think it’s fun to drive them from their homes? You think it’s fun to terrorize people?”

“It was just a quest, man,” the hunter insisted. “They got out fine, yeah? You took them in. They were fine!”

“No! They were not fine!” Alfre roared. “They were frightened, and worried, and heartbroken that their fellow players had turned against them! They’d lost everything they’d worked for. You destroyed your own city! For what? For money? For a quest to put in your log? Does human life mean so little to you?”

“It’s just a game, man!”

Alfre lashed out, her rapier leaving a long, thin cut along the hunter’s cheek. “No! This stopped being a game the moment we all got dragged here. It hasn’t been a game in months. It’s real life now. And even if it was a game, you still have a responsibility to treat every person with dignity and respect. If you don’t, you lose your right to be treated like anything other than the absolute wanker you are. Suffer the consequences of your actions.”

The hunter screamed as Alfre’s blade pierced his chest, shattering into a million iridescent pieces.

Alfre whirled on the other enemy Fell in the square, eyes glowing an eerie pale blue. “Anyone else?”

The three samurai Makoto had been dueling ran off, yelping in fear. The others seemed to hesitate, unsure of whether to stay and fight or run off like their comrades to regroup. The moment Canus morphed back into his human form, however, they realized just how screwed they were. No way they were going to take on two gods at once. They scrambled out of the plaza, turning tail like the cowards they were.

Cheers erupted from the balconies and windows around them, even the Wonderlanders joined in the celebration. Alfre raised a hand in acknowledgement, too embarrassed at the praise to do much else. She turned to her fighters, shouting to be heard over the cheers.

“Clear them out of the city,” Alfre ordered. “Then we’ll tend to our wounded and figure out if anyone died and got sent back to their home city.”

Those present took off to inform the rest of the forces of Alfre’s orders. Ren and Spica stayed behind, along with Ran, Silver, Makoto, and Elias.

“Where is Hadi?” Makoto asked.

Alfre had to shrug. “In the city somewhere. I lost him in the streets, I’m sorry.”

Makoto shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m sure I’ll find him later.”

Alfre turned to the cathedral, eyeing in appreciatively. “Will it hold?”

“It should,” the druid said. “And it’s not like they can teleport out or anything. Abilities don’t work in the cathedrals.”

Alfre nodded. “Thank you. I’m afraid I don’t know your name. You’re one of Hunter’s, right?”

The druid nodded. “My username was something stupid like ‘asskicker420.’ Just call me Henry.”

“Henry,” Alfre repeated with a smile. “An old schoolmate of mine was named Henry. He was a good lad, even if he was losing all his brain cells to rugby.”

Henry shrugged sheepishly. “I’m just glad to help. You know, to make up for the shit our guild pulled in the beginning.”

Alfre reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You’re doing more than enough.”

“Excuse me?” the group turned at the sound of a tiny voice to see the young cleric who’d helped Ren before standing there, clutching at her staff. Her sorcerer guardian was just behind her.

Ren stepped forward, kneeling to be eye level with the young cleric. “Hi, there. You’re the one who helped me earlier, aren’t you? Thanks for that, you really saved my butt.”

“U-um,” the girl stuttered, seemingly unable to meet Ren’s gaze. “Thank you for coming to fight for us. I-I was wondering if anyone else needed healing?”

“You’re very welcome,” Ren said gently. “I don’t need any more healing, but the others might. My name is Ren. What’s yours?”

“Olivia,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “My big sister says you’re wearing the royal armor. Does that mean you’re a princess?”

The sorcerer behind her chuckled a little. “Sorry, she really likes princesses.”

“I do, too,” Ren assured. “My favorite is Mulan. Who’s yours?”

Olivia beamed. “Merida! And I like Rapunzel, too! I wanted to heal people like she does! So Tori said I should be a cleric.”

Her sister, Tori, scratched at her neck in embarrassment.

“That’s great!” Ren said. “But I’m not a princess. I’m a queen.”

Olivia gasped in awe, and whispered, “That’s even better than a princess!”

“Heck yeah, it is!” Ren shouted, grabbing the little girl about the waist and twirling her around. “But it’s not nearly as cool as being Commander. Right, Alfre?”

Alfre laughed, feeling her cheeks heat up as Olivia turned to stare at her. “Nah, being queen is way better.”

“Just shut up and let the little girl idolize you,” Ren teased.

Oliva approached her shyly. “Um, do you need healing?”

“Mmm…” Alfre made a show of thinking about it, patting herself on the arms and torso as if to check for wounds. “No, I don’t think so. But do you think you could check Beira for me? I think she might have gotten a cut or two.”

“Beira?” she echoed.

Alfre pulled out her direwolf pipe, despite the fact that Beira was just on the far side of the plaza, and blew. Beira bounded over, nearly knocking Alfre over with how excited she was. “This is Beira. Canus gave her to me. Don’t let her size fool you, she’s very gentle.”

Oliva held out her hand for Beira to sniff, apparently having been taught how to deal with strange dogs. Beira sniffed her hand briefly before plopping her head down in it, expecting scritches. Oliva giggled, scratching at the underside of Beira’s chin. She held out her staff, casting a low-level healing spell, just enough to top off the direwolf’s hit points.

“She’s awful young to be playing this game,” Ren whispered to Tori. True, she’d met young players before – June’s guild was full of teenagers – but most have them were at least fifteen.

The sorcerer sighed, leaning on her staff as she watched her younger sister pet at the direwolf that was at least twice her size. “She saw how much fun I was having with it and wanted to join in. My folks thought it’d be alright as long as I partied with her and kept her out of trouble. None of us could have expected this to happen.”

“There are lots of young players on Ahmar,” Makoto said, stepping closer. “It was considered a good starting continent for younger kids. Most of the players that ran from the Granato were younger than eighteen. I know Hadi’s only seventeen, himself, and most of his guild are young teenagers.”

“That’s insane,” Ren muttered. “They were attacking kids!”

Tori nodded. “It was one of the really high level raiding guilds, The White Knights, or something like that. They were the ones who teamed up with Granato. Most of the kids had no chance against them. Pretty sure some of them had been hackers before the Incident.”

Ren turned her gaze back on Alfre, who was watching Oliva’s interactions with Beira closely. “Alfre’s gonna be pissed when she finds out.”

“Like she’s not already?” Makoto asked sarcastically.

“Okay, more pissed,” Ren corrected.

“Should we tell her now?”

Ren shook her head. “We’ll do it after we’ve cleared out the city. Speaking of which… Oi! Alfre! Isn’t it about time we get to kicking more Granato butt?”

Alfre’s content smile fell. “Aye, you’re probably right. Beira, let’s go.” She climbed aboard her direwolf companion once more, startling Olivia. “C’mon everyone, there’s more work to be done.”