266: Ray in the Dark (Part One) (Patreon)

“And I’m telling you, we’ll die if we congregate!” The four-armed rebel slammed his fist on the table. “Our best hope is to disperse. That way, the beasts will waste time hunting us down. Several may survive!”

“You’d feed our own people to those monsters, then? You’re no better than the Chits!”

“How dare you! I am merely—”

The warehouse door slammed, and in strode the masked figure of Vir, his black robe flaring behind him. All eyes turned to him, and all conversations hushed.

“You! Where’ve you been?” someone asked.

“Planning for our future,” Vir replied smoothly. “For the future of this city, and the Gargans within. Now tell me, how do you intend to survive this crisis?”

“That’s just what we were discussing,” the four-armed rebel said. “All our options are grim. I say we should spread out. It gives us the highest chance of surviving this.”

“At the expense of half our numbers, or more,” his opponent said.

“What do you think, Warrior of Ash?” someone who hadn’t spoken before said.

“I agree that, under normal conditions, concentrating our numbers would be a death sentence should the beasts ever find us.”

“See?”

“Except,” Vir said, holding up a finger, “these are not normal conditions. Not by any means.”

“What do you mean?”

“Shan,” Vir commanded.

The Ash Wolf bounded silently into the room. His appearance shifted the mood within the room in an instant.

Some rebels braced for combat while others muttered prayers. A few cried out in panic.

“They’re here already!? Adinat save our souls.”

“Relax,” Vir ordered, raising a placating hand. “He is an ally.”

“An ally? Are you out of your mind? I’ve seen those things rip through an entire room in seconds! We’re not safe.”

“I should ask you the same,” Vir replied calmly. “Does he look as though he’s about to rip your throats out?”

Shan sat obediently next to Vir, gazing impassively at the terrified faces in the room as he licked his paw.

Vir sometimes wondered if the beast could understand them. His intuition was otherworldly.

“I… don’t understand,” Janani said, her voice faltering as she spoke. “You have tamed an Ash Wolf? How? This is impossible.”

“Not so much tamed, as befriended, but yes,” Vir said.

Shan grunted in agreement.

“So those reports… they were factual?” Greesha said, rising from her chair to get a better look at Shan. “Sightings of a black beast, prowling the streets. I’d passed it off as nothing more than fear-mongering, perhaps exaggerated sightings of a stray bandy. But this…”

“I’d appreciate it if you kept this quiet,” Vir said, addressing the room. “Vaak’s image has meaning precisely because anyone can don the mask. If it becomes known that I travel with an Ash Wolf, that deception loses its value.”

“Ain’t none of us gonna go blab, if that’s what you’re worried about,” another demon said. “But an Ash Wolf, huh? He’ll be an asset during the fight, that’s for certain.”

Their relief, however, was short-lived.

“Oh, Shan isn’t going to fight,” Vir said.

Deathly silence fell on the room.

“He’s… not?” someone asked at last.

“He’s not,” Vir confirmed. “I want you all to gather in a defensible location. Find the the biggest structure that can fit everyone, wherever it is.”

“Ain’t no one building gonna fit us all,” a rebel said.

“Then a cluster of large buildings. The closer they are, the better.”

“Well, that’d be stores, in the Chit part of the city,” the four-armed demon said. “Backs up to the wall itself. Wouldn’t call them ‘defensible’, though. Lots of ways beasts could get to us. Or Chits, for that matter.”

“That’s fine,” Vir said. “Shan, here, will keep you safe. And you won’t need to worry about the Chitran. They’ll all be long gone by the time you get there. They’re retreating to the keep and the castle grounds that surround it.”

“The wolf? Alone? I mean no disrespect. Your friend looks mighty strong, but I don’t think—Grakking Ash!”

The demon speaking fell over as Shan allowed Ash prana to leak from his body, wreathing him with black flames.

Vir smirked under his mask. “You should know that my friend is not only incredibly powerful, he’s also highly intelligent.”

“He can understand us?” Greesha asked, her eyes wide with wonder. Wonder, and a hint of fear.

“To a degree,” Vir said nonchalantly. “Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. Shan here has ended the lives of hundreds of beasts in the Ash. Even a company of Chitran Warrior Callings couldn’t take him down. Besides. There won’t be many for him to deal with.”

Shan whined unhappily at Vir’s words.

“It’s alright, friend,” Vir said, petting him. “You’ll have your moment. I promise.”

Certain rebels flinched when Vir’s hand came into contact with Shan’s burning prana. Their concern turned into wonderment when he emerged unscathed.

“I wouldn’t try petting him,” Vir said with bemusement. “For a variety of reasons.”

“You said few beasts will enter the walls,” Janani said. “Where will you be?”

Vir turned, his robe fluttering behind him. “Driving off a stampede,” Vir said, just before he Blinked out of the room.

Greesha looked to Janani. “Is he always so fond of dramatic exits?”

Janani smiled wryly. “It would seem so. I do wonder if he’s planning on fighting them alone?”

Greesha grunted. “Just like his father,” she whispered.

“Sorry?” Janani asked. “Did you say something?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all,” Greesha replied, cracking a sly grin. “I believe that this will be a night to remember.”

— —

Vir felt he’d done a good job with the rebels, confident that his bravado had betrayed none of the anxiety that roiled in his stomach.

The rebels needed an infallible symbol. Not a fretting, lone demon. Yet it was with a grim expression that Vir surveyed Samar Patag’s surroundings. Surroundings that would soon become a bloody battlefield.

While the city might’ve been constructed in a defensible position, it was built with the assumption that the city would be defended by a full regiment of warriors manning the walls. Not a lone individual.

The issue lay both in geography and the nature of their opponents. To the west lay the inland Gargan Sea—it was safe to say that the city was shielded from that direction, at least from ground-based enemies. As for aerial foes, the runner hadn’t reported any Shrike sightings, nor did Vir think they’d survive in this prana climate.

Even with only ground forces to worry about, however, Vir was at a crippling disadvantage.

The city was no doubt intended to dissuade invaders from attacking from the north. Directly to the north of the Gargan Sea spanned the Western Teeth—a north-south mountain range that crossed into Panav lands.

Only a tiny sliver of coastline lay between the mountains and the sea, and no army would be stupid enough to march through that soft, marshy soil. The path was boggy and circuitous. Even if they did cross, they would then face the Glades of Aksala—the dense forest that surrounded Samar Patag to the north.

A nightmare for any army, but his enemies were no army. They were Ash Beasts, guided not by commanding officers, but instead driven by primal instinct.

They could very well attack from the north.

And yet, the nature of the sea meant that most beasts would fork to the south, entering Iksana lands. Vir had initially hoped they would disperse there, but Janani said that while some of the previous hordes veered further south to Jalak Kallol—Iksana’s underground stronghold—many came straight for  Samar Patag. Whether attracted by the denser prana of a demon-inhabited city, or for some other reason, nobody knew.

Immediately to the south of Samar Patag lay the natural barrier of the Garga River, which originated from its namesake inland sea. A single stone bridge crossed it—one that Vir was now rushing to destroy.

Yet even without that passage, Vir feared the river wouldn’t stop the horde. Years of careless trash dumping into the sea—another Chitran legacy—had led to debris gumming up the river, and its flow was pitifully low.

While an army might not attempt to ford it, Ash Beasts would have no such reservations. Destroying the bridge made sense—anything to slow them down—though Vir regretted being unable to do any more.

Maybe it’s for the better, Vir thought as he cut through the bridge’s supports with his katar’s Blade Projection. It’ll be easier to guard the city with an enemy right at the walls. Less distance to travel.

It was a dangerous gambit, and Vir knew it. One slip up, and the monsters would charge through Samar Patag’s decrepit walls, flooding into the city.

It wouldn’t take many before Shan was overwhelmed. It wasn’t a question of numbers—Shan held a full reserve of prana within him. Vir fully believed his friend could down dozens of the weakened horde.

The issue was that there were many paths enemies could take once inside the city. Buildings in which they could hide. He couldn’t find them all before they found the hiding Gargans.

Vir cut the last support and observed as the bridge crumbled in on itself. Most of the debris was swept down the river. The ones that didn’t budge, Vir cut up further to dislodge them. Minutes later, all traces of the bridge had ceased to be.

The Chitrans would have their work cut out restoring it, but that was a problem for a different day. For now, Vir focused on the present. His means were limited—not only could he not use Dance of the Shadow Demon, he’d be forced to fight efficiently, conserving every last drop of his body’s prana.

A difficult trial lay ahead. Perhaps the hardest of any he’d ever faced.

For this time, it wasn’t his own life that was at stake, but an entire city’s. People were depending on him to keep them safe. Men, women, and children.

Am I really ready for this?

Vir didn’t feel like he was. Unfortunately, Fate wasn’t one to pay feelings any mind.

Vir glimpsed movement on the horizon to the south. Time had run out.

The horde had arrived.