Dream (26 page)

“I went with Night-grifter even though I’m not using the skills much,” Jeff rolled up a slice of ham in a round of flatbread. “And bought a point in fighting undead and one in gem settings for our harnesses.”

“Well, that boosts our combat capability by a significant margin,” Shad said with some satisfaction. “Hopefully it will be enough.”

Justin was working in the four-acre garden planted to the east of the fort; he waved to the Talons but otherwise did not pause in his hoeing.

“How far in do we go today?” Derek asked, looking up at the overcast sky. It wasn’t raining, but the clouds were thick enough that every Talon had his rain cloak rolled and slung.

“Until we see something likely,” Shad said, testing his draw on his sword, which was considerably faster than it had been than the day before.

Fred had mounted his helm inside his bearskin, where it fit extremely well. He rapped his knuckles against it, the noise muffled by the fur. “I feel better for yesterday’s run.”

“Can we attack revenants from outside the Valley?” Jeff asked.

“Nope,” Sam said glumly. “They get the home-court advantage in all things.”

“I’m beginning to see why there’s no big line of bravos wanting to try this place,” Derek mused. “Losses here must be pretty high.”

“If you sent several big groups in at widely separated points you could bring out a lot of gear, but I bet you would lose a lot of guys doing that,” Jeff shrugged.

“If we had a half-dozen more outlanders and two dozen more bang sticks this place would be a breeze,” Shad grinned. “But I’m not interested in sticking around that long. Sam, you sure we can’t just buy our way out?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“You said the other group pulled an artifact out of here-do you know how they did it?” Fred asked.

“I’m not sure, but they lost three guys doing it. They had been looking for individuals and partial groups since they arrived.”

“No lessons from them, then.”

“What about trying to blitz through, just cut across from one side to the other?” Jeff wondered.

“It’s the best part of a mile across,” Shad objected.

“Yesterday we went in nearly a quarter mile, then came back,” Jeff pointed out. “By cutting straight across we might fake out the revenants.”

“We’ll have to go in nearly a half mile in order to get at the good stuff,” Derek observed. “Doubling back or going forward amounts to the same distance.”

“A mile with twelve bang sticks,” Shad sighed. “OK, no more than one stick per revenant unless it gets desperate. We’re going to do this at double time, with two stops, three at the most for very fast looting. I want to grab gear, but speed is essential. We need to look at the footing conditions since places where the bodies are stacked will make moving tricky, much less trying for fast movement.”

“The rope will help where the bodies are stacked deep,” Derek pointed out.

“I certainly hope so. Let’s keep moving until we find the right spot.”

“There,” Derek jerked his chin. “Don’t point, Sam, revenants aren’t blind. That little rise is it.”

Shad studied the scene, keeping his body and head at an angle to the target. A small fold of ground at the near-exact center of the north-south axis of the Field had been crowned with one of the huge strange vehicles. There was no signs of the creatures that had towed it there, so the placement had apparently been deliberate. The vehicle was devastated-it was partially burned and partially melted, the great wooden timbers having flowed and set like heated plastic. The remainder of the rise was covered in bodies, stacked two or three deep in places, and the slope and surrounding ground were thickly littered with corpses, so much so that it would be possible to walk from the crest to a point at least a hundred yards out, stepping from body to body without once touching the ground.

“I see what you mean: a fight that savage, there had to be heroes on both sides there, and the defenders certainly died. Positioned the way it is, not many looters will have reached it and lived.”

“If we move up to that funny-shaped bush there and then abruptly haul ass, we could get a little element of surprise,” Fred suggested.

“That’s a plan,” Shad nodded as he dug out his vials of rune-ink and armor charms. “Sam, start singing. We’ll buff to the max here and then get about this business. Derek, we need a sword, axe, artifact, cash, and small stuff that is easy to grab. Speed is key.”

“Too bad-I really would like a better set of armor,” the big barbarian sighed.

“No time to get one off a body, but what about dragging one clear with the rope?” Jeff suggested. “We can bury the remains.”

“What if it hangs up on something?” Shad asked.

“Grab one on the far side of the fight, and steer for clear grass-in fact, we need to steer for clear areas to avoid bad footing.”

“Well, we can try. Anchor the rope on Fred and Sam can help pull the body. Fred picked up a horse yesterday, so even a big guy won’t weigh all that much after this amount of time. Worse comes to worse we can drop it. On another point we have six smoke candles; I suggest Sam drop them behind us in a line once we’re about a hundred yards in.”

“Why?” Jeff asked.

“To take the revenants think we’re going to double back or have something else going on. Distraction, mainly.”

“No harm in it,” the Night-grifter shrugged. “Any help is welcome.”
 

“Five…four…three…two…one…GO!” The wedge of Talons abruptly turned and burst into the sunlight at a brisk trot.

The first revenant hit them at around one hundred yards, dying abruptly on a bang stick and Fred’s axe. The Talons resumed their charge, Sam tossing smoke sticks behind them until all six had been deployed. At a little over two hundred yards three Undead came for them, but one diverted into the smoke trail first, narrowing the odds.

They came again at four hundred yards, three at once, hitting from all sides, and Jeff’s bang-stick misfired. Shad burned charm after charm to close the terrible wound in Jeff’s side as Fred hacked the last revenant apart, aided by two bolts from Derek.

“Talk to me, Jeff,” the Jinxman gasped.

The shop teacher coughed and spat red-tinted spittle. “I think I’m OK.”

“That was a helluva hit,” Derek said, dropping two replacement plates onto the Night-grifter’s chest without looking away from his quarter of the circle.

“Lucky shot,” Jeff grunted, tucking the new plates into place after Shad worked the damaged ones free from their torn pouches.

“Better to be lucky than good,” Shad stood and helped Jeff stand. “We’re down six sticks and the buffs have taken a beating.”

“They’re down six revenants,” Fred pointed out, wrapping a boiled bandage around a shallow gash on the back of his left hand and the pulling the damaged fingerless glove back on.

“Lets go, at a walk,” Shad sighed. Taking the misfired bang stick from Sam he carefully re-primed it and cocked the simple hammer assembly. “No more running-the charms don’t really replace blood.”

“I’m good to go,” Jeff said stoutly.

“I don’t doubt it, but we need to save something for the rest of the trip.”

“We’re about five hundred yards in,” Fred announced quietly.

“About three hundred yards until the rise,” Derek squinted at their destination.

“Worry about the next step you take,” Shad reminded them. “The next step and the next fight. Nothing else matters, because if you don’t survive that the rest is moot.”

Grim-faced and bloody the Talons moved at a brisk walk, passing the first scattering of corpses from the outside edge of the fight. A couple bodies lacked belts or showed where pouches had been cut away, but those were quickly left behind.

“One hundred yards to the rise,” Fred said, keeping his voice low.

“Will they hit us when we stop?” Shad wondered.

“Last time they only hit us when we were moving,” Jeff pointed out. “That feeds into their near-invisibility.”

“Good point. Derek, I’ve got your sector-you look for loot.”

“Got it. Fred, guide towards that red banner with the thing with wings in black on it.”

“Yeah, I see it-up near the wreck.”

They had to step on corpses as they approached the rise. “Sorry, friend,” Shad said softly as he stepped on a hollow torso covered in dark mail and a yellow surcoat. Two bodies later he bent quickly to tug a necklace from a body, dropping it into the sack on the back of his belt. Moments later he felt Derek shove something that jingled into the bag.

“Keep your eyes moving, guys,” Jeff warned the Talons. “Bad footing makes this place ideal for revenants.”

“Derek!” Fred hissed. “There’s an axe stuck into the side of the wreck, above the second-to last wheel.”

“Stay on course-the rope will reach.”

“Incoming, southeast!” Shad snapped, setting his feet. The revenant popped into full view only to catch a silver-blue bolt of power and a glancing hit from Sam’s slung bullet. As it swept in imperiously Shad stepped forward and thrust with the bang stick, which fired this time, the blast devastating the creature’s leg.

Stepping back carefully the Jinxman dropped the bang stick and drew his sword, parrying the thing’s right blade and ducking its left slash as he did a one-step thrust, running his blade deep into the revenant’s torso. As he withdrew Derek hit it with another bolt, sending the creature into its cloudy demise.

“Anyone see my hat?” Shad felt the side of his head; his fingers came back bloody.

“Downslope, I think,” Sam said as he adjusted his growing load of empty bang sticks.

“Forget it.”

“I’m down to my bow, guys,” Derek advised as he cut a pouch off the belt of a long-dead Dwarf.

“We’re past the point of return. Let’s go.”

Sam deployed the rope to twine around the axe’s handle as they reached the banner, and with Fred’s help the weapon was jerked free and dragged to the Talons. Meanwhile Derek scrambled from body to body, muttering to himself.

“How are we doing, Derek?” Shad asked. “The clock is running.”

“Three axes, three swords, some short-edged stuff, and some loot.”

“Then we’re done, except for the artifact.”

“What about that?” Jeff said, pointing.

“What?” Derek looked in the direction the Night-grifter was pointing.

“That right there-it looks kind of like stained glass. By the Dwarf with half a spear sticking up through his helmet. A
fancy
helmet, by the way.”

“Fred…”

“Moving.” The Talons eased gingerly over the bodies.

“What is it?” Shad asked without looking away from his sector.

“It is an artifact.” The Shadowmancer’s voice was reverent.

“You’re sure? What kind?’

“Yeah, I’m sure; its something heavy-weight. Major mojo.”

Shad risked a glance: the item Derek was gingerly manipulating into its carrying case appeared to be a row of glass tubes, each around a foot long, mounted on a frame of ivory sections fastened together by green metal. The glass tubes were varicolored, and the colors seemed to swim like those of gasoline on water. “What is it, the xylophone of doom?”

“No, its not a musical instrument,” Derek managed to release a hidden catch and the assemble folded up. “My guess, and keep in mind just touching it is giving me a headache, is that it is a divination device of some sort.”

“Its powerful enough?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Sam, ditch the wood shafts of the empty bang sticks. We’re done here. As soon as it is in the case we’re leaving, Derek.”

“This was a Dwarven command group!” the Shadowmancer protested.

“Home, Derek: we’re going home. I don’t care if the One Ring is here, we’re getting quit of this hellhole because we just found half our ticket. Fred, pick the clearest path back to the cloudy day, choose the body you’re going to drag, and lets hit it.”

“About nine hundred yards to normal ground,” the barbarian announced as they started moving. “More or less.”

At eight hundred yards they paused very briefing to use Derek’s enchanted rope to snare an armored corpse which they pulled along behind their wedge.

Four revenants hit the Talons at the six hundred yard mark, coming in from all sides, and for the first time they moved with speed when they crossed the ten foot mark.

The one coming from the east took two arrows as it closed with a white-faced Sam. The Bard managed to parry the incoming swings as Derek shot it again, doing surprisingly well until the revenant’s right blade punched through the boss on his buckler. Sam parried the next slash with his sword-rapier but was too slow in getting the blade back on guard, and the next slashed opened his thigh almost to the bone.

Derek put an arrow into the Undead creature’s skull and then dove to the side, catching a minor cut on his shoulder from the bone-blade that hissed through the place his throat had just been. He landed hard, dropping his bow and clawing for his short sword as the revenant loomed over him. His blade was half out of its sheath as the thing’s left blade started the downward thrust, too little too late, until Jeff hit the revenant with a bang stick and the Undead burst into its smoky death throes.