Banished Pt. 11

Fuck. That hurts without armor or strength boosts!

Two more guards were in the room, but I was quick to react.

Using the spear I'd seized from the second guard, I jabbed the butt end into the face of the next Kobalt guard, then swept the legs out from under the second, before stabbing him with the pointy end in the shoulder.

He screamed as I jerked the tip out of his shoulder, then pushed the doors shut, and barricaded it by placing the spear through the handles.

I retrieved two more spears, further reinforcing the barricade, before turning to my 'host', who still seemed quite amused.

"I told you; we're slow to bleed."

He laughed.

"No, but quick to shed blood, evidently."

I scoffed.

"How much blood do you see here? Your Kobalt's lives will remain their own yet... I am confused though. Why tempt fate by angering one with as much power as me?"

He laughed again.

"Because I know what you seek to bring to this grove," he replied, and I studied him.

"Is that what Palancar told you?"

He shook his head.

"It's what the future showed."

I cast a tentative glance towards the girl.

"Hnn~. Does that mean that this fake has a genuine counterpart, then?"

"And why do you assume her to be a fake?" the man asked, and I chuckled.

"Because she has no skill of any value," I replied.

Nate! We need to get out of here. The townspeople are fleeing!

I moved to the window, looking for Casey, but we were on the far side of the grove tree from where the merchant grounds lay.

I picked up one of my armguards, and as I strapped it on, the item activated, to my relief.

"Your little play has failed, yet you don't seem all that bothered," I noted, and Gert continued to smile.

"I know what you plan to do with these lands," he said. "And for my people, I will die gladly."

I shook my head at him.

"Well, either your fortune teller is no better than this girl; or someone else is coming to do the things you've seen."

"Please, Auslander! Have mercy!" the girl cried, as she threw herself at my feet, but I placed a hand on her shoulder, and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"You can relax. I mean you no harm," I said, as I continued to put on my armor.

The guards were throwing themselves at the door, but I knew that the barrier had been made from the wood of the canopy tree, and short of a God-weapon, there was no weapon that the Kobalt possessed that could dent those things.

"Does this prediction of yours come with a specified date?" I asked, and the man laughed.

"What game are you playing now, Nathan?"

I smirked.

"No more titles? Where did your regard for formalities suddenly go off to?"

The man's smile quickly faded, as he studied me.

"What do you seek? Is it the one who makes predictions? Because she is long gone..."

I shook my head.

"You wouldn't have tried to kill me unless you knew for sure that you had some means to stand up to the rest of my people. Surely Palancar had told you of our numbers?"

The man studied me, biting his lip angrily, but he didn't respond.

"Nothing more to say? Well, I guess I've dallied here long enough," I said, as I made sure that my armor was all activated, and in place.

I headed for the window, then turned to add:

"Oh; tell your guards that if they value their lives, don't attack us. I have no desire to shed Kobalt blood, but I will if they threaten my princess."

And with that, I leapt from the height, and rolled as I landed with a dull thud.

Fuck... that hurt a little bit, I thought, even as I walked away with an air as if it were no big feat.

Casey's face showed visible relief as she spotted me.

"Nate! Did you get my message?"

I nodded.

"We need to prepare. Something's coming here," I said.

"Something?"

I nodded.

"A lot of things haven't been adding up, and now I think I understand..."

"Understand what?"

"Palancar has a weapon, and they're fairly certain it can kill us."

Casey's mouth fell open, and I took a glance around, as I studied the surroundings.

The grove trees would make for good cover, but we didn't want to get pinned inside of one.

But the open space of the campground wasn't really that safe either.

I mean, if they rained arrows down on us, we'd be in trouble... although, I'd never yet seen anything like a bow in my time here.

"Let's have our non-combatants flee with the villagers," I began, when Gisela darted to my side.

"Herr Nathan! An elder of Grenze offers sanctuary to our Kobalt."

"Can he be trusted?" I asked, and she nodded.

"He is a distinguished Kobalt of sound reputation," she answered.

I nodded.

"Get them inside then. The princess, and the injured too."

The rest of the group quickly gathered to me.

"What's going on?" Cameron asked, and I shot her a worried look.

"Swap your armor to Bianca," I said, and she frowned.

"Fuck yeah!" Bianca exclaimed.

"Molly, do you think you can fight?"

"Nate, I can fight!" Cameron said, and I shot her a worried look.

Molly was shaking, and I let out a sigh, before turning to Nolan.

"Fine, you swap to Bianca," I said, and he shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.

"She's been training, and your knowledge of geography is invaluable," I reasoned, and he nodded.

"Where's Raul?"

"Here," he said, as I spun around, looking for him.

"Take the hunters, establish a perimeter facing east."

"Nate, something's coming!" Francesca yelled, as she darted to us.

"As in, like a monster?"

"Or something that gives off a presence like one."

I bit my lip nervously.

Who could it be?

Vanessa?

Or was there some other card they had to play?

"Keep your dagger ready, and stay with the princess."

She frowned.

"Who's wearing my armor?" she asked, and as I nodded to Bianca, she smiled.

"You better kick ass!" she called out, and Bianca responded with an enthusiastic shout.

"You bet!"

"Francesca; keep Lucia with you," I said, and she nodded, but as she turned to leave, I called out to her. "Keep an eye on her," I warned, in a lower voice, and she nodded again.

"Nate! There is problem!" Gisela cried out, as she dashed to my side. "Herr Henke will not let the princess or injured Goddesses into his tree."

I shook my head, disbelievingly.

"Why?"

"He says he wishes to save Kobalt life; the princess and the goddesses will only serve to undo that purpose."

I bit my lip nervously.

"Bring her to that grove tree," I said, indicating to the tree just behind us. "Have her and the rest of the injured stay just in front of the entrance, and have the runners form a line in front of them.

"Raul!" I called out to him. "Move the perimeter back, over here!"

I gestured to the area in front of where the others were, then I sensed it; it was a presence just like that of the monster that had attacked.

This was really it, huh?

Palancar was throwing everything into this... whatever it was.

If I had a bad feeling about this to begin with, now it felt a thousand times worse.

I made sure I had my dagger, as I readied my halberd.

"Spears, swords to the front if you're in armor. The rest of you can still fight, but focus on watching the backs of those who make the first strikes. Bianca."

"Here," she said.

"Stay by my side. Don't just attack out of nowhere; I'll try to make openings for you. Get in, hit, then get out. Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Here it comes!" Francesca yelled, and I nodded as the presence was most certainly upon us, but as I scanned the tree line for some indication of the beast, a silvery spinning disc instead shot out from the trees, and my eyes went wide as I caught sight of it in the nick of time.

I darted forward in front of Jordan, and I cried out as I swung the bladed tip of my halberd, and a loud clanging sound thundered as the blade collided with the missile, and the thing crashed into the nearby tree with a thunderous boom.

"What the fuck was that?" Jordan asked, as he turned and saw the damage that the thing had done.

"Eyes open!" I yelled.

Could it use those attacks repeatedly?

If it could, then this could get messy, and fast!

The answer came via another disc which came hurtling across the forest floor, this time, aimed at Molly, who was furthest away from me to the left, but Raul stepped forward this time and deflected the attack off to his right.

The disc collided with the earth, and a great cloud of dust exploded in the wake of the impact.

"Its aim is shit, but that thing is packing a serious punch," he cursed, but this time I saw where the attack came from.

Was it goading me into moving forward?

"Get the princess inside the tree!" I yelled. "Bianca, let's go."

I darted out from the front line at a measured pace when Bianca suddenly moved past me.

"Hey, behave," I chided, and she shot me a stupid grin.

"Sorry! This armor is faster than my old one!"

We made it halfway to the thing when the disc came hurtling toward me, and as I easily swept it aside, I spotted the source of the attack, and my eyes went wide.

A Kobalt!

She was a Kobalt girl, and she wore a full suit of armor, much like ours; but there was that silvery disc on her arm, almost like a shield, and as she struck a pose, aiming the thing at me again, I prepared myself, and repelled the attack, just as Bianca moved past me, and aimed her dagger at the girl's neck.

She evaded the strike, but as I studied her movement, I noted that something felt off.

She was quick! Quicker than I was, for sure.

But that evasion was sloppy...

I mean, she leapt two feet away when two inches would have worked fine, and as she ran off without executing so much as a counter attack, I stared after her.

I was beginning to wonder if this was the extent of the attack, when the rumbling sound of something charging at us came echoing to me, and I turned to Bianca.

"Fall back. Quick!"

As we darted for the main group, another disc came flying at me, and I swiped it away, before yelling.

"Monsters incoming!"

The group readied themselves, as I turned to Raul.

"Try to keep the discs from hitting anyone," I said. "Everyone else, engage the monsters, but keep your eyes open! Dodge if you don't think you can deflect the disc!"

I'd hardly finished speaking when the monsters burst through the bushes beyond the grove; but these were not the geisterung to which I'd gotten more or less accustomed.

Instead, they looked like wolves with sleek black fur, but with crested heads, and tails which split into three at the ends and whipped around as they walked with a cracking whip-like sound.

I counted fifteen in the first wave, and they were fast; faster than the geisterung, and while they lacked the vicious claws of the geisterung, their teeth were razor sharp and made for tearing through flesh.

"Hunters, hold them off!" I yelled, and the hunters moved forward with their bone tipped spears, and tried to fend off the onslaught as those with god-weapons moved forward and killed as many of the creatures in the first wave as they could.

Bianca stabbed one in the neck, before retreating just as another leapt at her, and I skewered the creature; but an explosion off to my left drew my eye, and I turned in time to see a gaping hole in the side of the tree trunk where the princess and the others were now hiding.

"Get down in there!" I yelled out.

A man screamed somewhere off to my right, and Cameron stabbed one of the creatures just as it began to tear into the shoulder of one of the Kobalt hunters.

He was clutching the spot, and backing away from the fray, but the wound didn't appear fatal.

"Get him inside," I said to the nearby runners.

Another disc came flying toward the tree, but this time, Raul was on it, and he deflected it away.

"How many more monsters do you think they've got?"

I surveyed the scene.

"I'd say that was it," I said, frowning.

Was the worst of it over?

If so, then I could hunt that woman down with relative ease...

I mean, the worst that I could imagine her doing with her skills was outrunning me with her superior speed...

Another disc came flying in, and I darted across the face of the tree and deflected it, but as it crashed into a nearby tree, the woman came charging at me, and my stomach lurched as I quickly realized that she was even faster than I'd initially imagined.

She had to be at least as fast as Hans!

I watched her for a weapon, when the disc appeared at her hand and as she leapt into the air above the level of my head, she hurled the disc downward into my face, and I swung just in time to deflect it; but that attack was just a distraction, as her arm transformed into a wicked curved blade, and as she swung, a sword came up in front of me, parrying the blow, just as I raised an arm protectively over myself.

I shot Jordan a thankful nod, but the moment of relief was short lived as she brought the sword arm down on us with incredible force.

But as Jordan and I struggled against her, Bianca quickly moved in and stabbed the woman in the hip, just where her armor ended around her thigh.

She cried out, then leapt backwards before darting off into the trees.

"Did you miss me Nate?" she called out, and I tilted my head, at the unfamiliar voice that had addressed me in such a familiar way.

"Is that you, Vanessa?"

She laughed, and I immediately recognized the sound.

It was her... but how?

"You regret it now, huh? Leaving me there back then?"

To think, back then I was worried about Palancar, when instead I had handed them a weapon...

"Not just yet," I called out teasingly. "I mean, you haven't even scratched me!"

She laughed again.

"I'll do more than scratch you, sweetie. You and that fucking bitch!"

She came charging at me again, and this time, Cameron and Jordan moved to my side.

We were ready for her, but as Raul moved out of the corner of my eye, she hurled the disc wickedly toward one of the Kobalt hunters, and as Raul failed to deflect the disc, the man exploded into a mess of blood and flesh, and she smirked wickedly as she swept her blade at us.

We all got our weapons up to defend against the attack, but the sheer power of the swipe completely overwhelmed us, and we went flying backwards collectively, colliding hard with the tree trunk some feet back.

But Bianca was on her toes today, and she darted in again, and this time, drove her dagger into the woman's foot, and she left it, impaling her to the ground before rolling out of the way of her clumsy counter strike.

"You useless little cunt. I should have let them rape you with the rest of those fucking whores!" she spat.

She cried out, as she pulled the blade from her foot, but if I wasn't worried before, I was now...

Her power and speed were well beyond us.

At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before she would adjust to our capabilities, and finish us off, one by one, with ease.

I grabbed my halberd and darted at her, but she evaded my jab with ease, and as I turned the face of the blade in a swing, she leaned back under the arc, then turned and kicked me in the ribs hard.

I went flying, and my breastplate deactivated, falling off of me as I skidded across the earth.

I gasped for breath, but every gasp caused a sharp pain to shoot through my side.

Fuck! Were my ribs broken?

I tried to clear my mind, and think... we needed to find a way to end this in one sweeping go.

Maybe if we distracted her once more, then Bianca could land a stab on something vital?

I was still trying to come up with a solution when the princess emerged from the entry hall.

Gisela was tugging at her, but she swept the girl aside with a solid shove.

"Stay back!" I called out in German, but she shook her head.

She defiles something more precious to every Kobalt than the very breath we draw, she said into my mind.

I gazed into her core, and furrowed my brow, as her capacity was barely enough to use a single hypnotic suggestion, but she swept past the entry hall, approaching Vanessa-in-Kobalt-form.

"Oh? You're coming to me? Way to make this easy," she said, but the teasing expression on her face quickly faded as she noted the intense look of resolve in Miriam's eyes.

Don't do it! I thought to myself, but as I reached for my halberd, a sharp pain shot through my side.

I shook off the pain, as I tried to stand, only to fall to my knees.

What do I do?

Vanessa readied her blade arm to strike, when Miriam raised her hands, and I gasped, as I suddenly felt my power being drawn from my body.

I instinctively activated my sensory perception, and then I saw it.

Energy was being drawn from almost everyone around her, and as it swirled and spiraled into a circle around her, her aura seemed to intensify, and brighten.

"Meine Königin. Erinnere dich, wer du bist -- Remember who you are, my queen."

She channeled all of her energy into that command, and Vanessa fell to her knees.

"No- what have you done! Ahhhhhhh!"

She screamed and writhed about, before struggling to her knees, and looking about.

"Where am I?" she asked in German, before looking down at her own bladed arm. "What- what have I become? Hans? I... I couldn't save you. Oh, my sweet Hans..."

She cried as she fell to the floor, but as she looked up, she caught sight of the princess, and shook her head.

"You... you are one who seeks follow in my footsteps. I wish you a better fate than what my love has borne..."

She turned, looking around, until she spotted Bianca.

"Strike quickly," she said. "My mind will soon give way to the hunger..."

Bianca shot me a quick look, and as I nodded, she moved in, but her hands began to shake as she prepared to strike, and Raul placed a hand on her shoulder, as he moved to her side.

"Let me," he said, as he took a deep breath, then sank his blade through the woman's neck, and she fell to the ground as she bled out, gasping a little, before her eyes went dead, and she turned to me.

You win this time, Natey boy... but I have more toys to play with!

The voice was Vanessa's, and I bit my lip nervously, as the girl fell to the ground, still and unmoving.

We'd made it.

Just barely, but we'd made it again...

As I looked around though, I felt a weariness descend on me, and I wondered when we would truly escape from this perpetual state of conflict.

Miriam coughed, retching loudly, and my stomach tightened, as I looked over, and saw blood falling from her eyes, and pouring out of her ears.

She began to vomit violently, a mixture of blood, and a thick red ooze, and I tried to stand again as I made for her side.

"Evie!" I called out, and as the girl came running out of the entry hall with Ryker in tow, the two quickly moved to her side.