Ambushed

Muskets fired from the tree line. An iron ball struck Roxanne’s ax with a high-pitched ring. She rotated the blade against a second projectile to save her thigh. The axe rang again. Two dents marred the steel. She jumped from the cart. Road dust billowed around worn leather boots.

“Arrghhhh!” she charged toward the tree line raising her giant axe.

Then it swung wide.

A conscript’s milky eyes rolled upward to expose broken bloodshot vessels. Its head, stained with pale powder, slipped into the bush. The body stumbled, dropped its gun while reaching. Then it fell. A plume of acrid pale dust bloomed from its torn uniform.

Burning assaulted Roxanne’s nostrils, so she hopped backward into the open by instinct.

Imperial rifleman jumped from their cart. A rectangular formation pressed around the end of their convoy. Rifles gleamed while aiming in a straight line. An increasing number of Polish conscripts caked in white powder staggered from the trees. Milky eyes stared blankly. Swollen lips drooled a pinkish liquid over their unforms. Swollen tongues forced themselves between exposed teeth like dying slugs.

Rifles took aim.

Kurl ran forward, opened his tank, and put his hands to the ground. His forehead strained with concentration. A blast of Zinnian rammed an oncoming cloud of pale powder. An entire tank emptied.

Some poison powder infiltrated the line anyway. Rifles dropped. Screaming soldiers clutched their eyes; gentle wisps of steam swirled from between fingers like joyful ghosts. Gasping coughs erupted from bleeding lips.

“This isn’t the southern front! Get the hell out of formation! Spread out!” Kurl shouted.

He thought this over. There wasn’t enough zinnian to circulate entire poison clouds away without asphyxiating the men. With one tank emptied, he’d need to expend mana keeping his affinity on the field while gathering more. The conscripts were either undead or legion, not thralls, no sense in filling the woods with zinnian. He’d concentrated on making a thin density wall surrounding the convoy with his gathered affinity, enough to hold back more powder barrages. Then they’d flush out the ranks and find out just how many vampires mages they were dealing with.

Groans came from the other side of the road. More Polish conscripts gripping old muskets stepped from the bushes. Their uniforms were stained with mud and leaves. One had a long bone fragment protruding from his lungs. Their eyes were streaks of broken paleness, mouth burnt, many missing their bottom lip. They pointed their muskets frontward and fired without aiming. Iron balls slammed into the carts. One hit a horse in the flanks, causing it to panic and break its reigns. It ran into the wood. Panicked neighs went silent.

“Roxanne, get back and take cover! Confirmed poison mage hiding on the left side! Adam, get out here and barrage that tree-line, now! Flush it out! Infantry, staggered fire from cover!”

The Sterman rifleman awaited orders from their platoon commander, who quickly conceded Kurl’s orders and repeated them verbatim.

“I’m useless if I take cover! Do your job and cover me!”

“Take out the legion attacking from the right then!”

A steel axe swung through a uniformed torso, rendering a former conscript into separate halves, “You got it boss!”

Rocks swirled in a cloud, then slammed into the forest. Snapping twigs cracked while stones thudded against tree trunks. Adam shouted while conducting the barrage, "If this is what the road to Tarnobrzeg looks like, is there anything left of the city?"

“We’ll find out when we get there!”

Zinnian condensed into patches that distorted the sun. Vapor needles accelerated into the tree line. Legion dropped their muskets. Skulls opened across the forehead while their bodies swirled before dropping. Pale curtain eyes and listless mouths remained open wherever they lay.

“He’s running out of bodies!’ Kurl shouted, “Flush him out!”

Manicured nails pierced the soft satin cushioning of the carriage seat. Vanessa tensed visibly on hearing each of Kurl’s commands. Sharp blue eyes pierced Brunswick with their frown.

“Absolutely not! You will remain in this carriage until we reach Tarnobrzeg. That is an order from high command to be violated under no circumstances.”

Jessica and Susana pressed at the ruffled apron along their angel’s shoulders, massaged gently, and tried to calm her increasing agitation.

Frederika sat next to Brunswick with her fingers digging into her knees while she stared through her lap.

“My squad is fighting while I sit!” Vanessa tried to stand but her maids held her down, “I am sent by God to purge evil. Preventing my mission is heretical behavior worthy of eternal damnation. Let me fight.”

“They are not your squad,” Brunswick remained unmoved, expressionless, while the sounds of battle battered their shelter, “You are a celestial weapon attached to their squad. A weapon doesn’t get a say in how it is used.”

Vanessa tried to wiggle out from her maids, “What about Father Tergeist? I have a sworn duty to protect a man of God who works in my service! He’s out there!”

“Kurl will handle it.”

Shoulders slammed into the framing as the maids were pushed away. She stood over Brunswick, looming, “I’m going-”

The spear with wings on her neck glowed brilliantly. Vanessa tensed, her saliva foamed, eyes rolled into her back of her head as she experienced mana exhaustion and toxicity in one chaotic mix before collapsing. The other maids caught her and pulled her onto her seat before she could hit her head.

Brunswick raised his eyebrows, “To sit down and behave like a proper imperial angel.”

Fredericka shrunk into herself, about to cry. She grabbed her dress and tore it about her legs. The chain coiled tightly at the back of her uniform as she dug her nails into her black dress, “Then- then- I’ll fight for my angel!”

The chain unfurled through the cabin as Brunswick recoiled. The door of the carriage exploded into splintering chunks. Frederika screamed a battle cry as she ran toward the forest with the chain swirling above.

Kurl squinted at the new development, then turned to Roxanne as she finished off another legion conscript at the other side of the cart, “Assist Frederika! But don’t form too closely. I’ll keep the poison off you!”

“On it!” Roxanne hilted the axe to her back and ran to catch up with the maid. Both women darted into the tree line.

Kurl kept track by following sound, using zinnian to track the vibrations. He turned to Adam, who pelted sandstone pebbles at legion soldiers emerging from the left side. The corpses rattled backwards, then toppled.

“I have to go into the woods. Keep the convoy safe. Don’t let the men die.”

“There’s an entire damned brigade in this forest!” Adam complained, “Fine. Just keep the poison clouds at bay!”

An unidentified cackle, high-pitched, feminine, desperate, came from the forest. Branches crackled and tree limbs fell. A ball of distorted air formed above Kurl’s palm before he charged. With no other choice, he guessed he’d have to do this the hard way.