Someone Included Wolves

Something exploded beyond the gate. The Paladin turned toward the sound, giving Keme enough time to slam his shield into the exposed side of the Aegis and force him half a step sideways before another explosion shook the street.

That one was closer. The soldiers behind him looked back just as a wolf the size of a small horse came around the corner. It wore a saddle. Captain Ceara sat in it. “Move!” she shouted.

The Paladin managed to turn his shield but something struck the Aegis from the other side. The Aegis shattered in a spray of gold, leaving the soldiers behind it exposed. The wolf hit before the barrier recovered.

Its jaws closed around the soldier beside the Paladin and threw him. Ceara leaned from the saddle as they passed and slit open the Paladin's throat.

For a second, everyone paused. None of us had planned for cavalry wolves. The Templar recovered and brought his hammer down, catching the wolf's hind legs. The animal stumbled. Ceara threw herself from the saddle before it went down. She hit the street shoulder first, rolled twice, and came up with her sword in hand.

An arrow struck the Templar in the chest. The orc who had searched Waki at the mountain camp rode into the street on a second wolf, already drawing a second arrow. The Templar staggered and Keme charged. The few warriors still capable of fighting followed him.

I stayed where I was for the very important tactical reason that I was still mostly useless.

The rest of Ceara's squad came through the street behind her. Tovan reached Keme a moment later. The Templar barely got his hammer back up before the two of them dropped him to the ground. The dwarf fired his blunderbus into the soldiers trying to surround them and disappeared behind a wall of smoke while he reloaded. The woman with the long animal ears dropped from a roof behind two men who had decided retreat was safer and corrected the direction they had chosen.

The troll arrived last riding a wolf clad in armor. He climbed down, looked at the remaining soldiers, then at the club in his hand. Three dropped their weapons. The others followed shortly after.

The entire fight had taken less time than our last attempt to reinforce the gate.

Ceara's wolf had gotten back to its feet, though it shook the injured leg and snapped when she approached. Ceara caught its harness anyway, checked the leg, then touched its muzzle before turning toward us.

Blood covered one side of her coat and mud coated her boots. She looked considerably worse than she had when telling us to get off her mountain. I had spent most of my time in Harrowford becoming increasingly angry with her. Seeing her in person made maintaining it considerably harder.

Ceara crossed the street. “How many wounded?”

I pointed toward the church. “Three can't move. More went over the cliff.”

“How many healers?”

“Nimiwa and one Moon Guardian.”

“Tovan.” He was already coming toward us. “Find the healer. Give her whatever she asks for. Take whoever you need.” Tovan ran toward the church.

Ceara looked Keme up and down. “He’s the one in charge? Keep your people here.”

Waki translated. Fighting still continued outside. He answered, still keeping his eyes on the streets. “He says his warriors can fight,” Waki said.

Ceara pointed toward the church. “I can see that. Keep sending them out and he'll have more wounded to prove it.”

As Waki translated, his expression became considerably less friendly, but he shouted and the remaining elves began falling back toward the church.

Ceara pointed at me next. “You stay too.” She turned away.

“Ceara,” I said. She stopped. There had been several things I wanted to say to her. Most involved accusing her of using us. A few involved blaming her for our dead. The blood on her coat prevented any of them from being said. “You came.”

Ceara looked over her shoulder. “I said someone would.” An explosion shook the wall. She walked over to her wolf. “Be angry later. Right now, stay alive.” She climbed back onto the wolf. The animal crouched to make it easier. That was more consideration than any of the elves had shown me when helping me up the cliff or hanging me over the wall.

“Pell!” Ceara called. The goblin from the mountain camp appeared from the smoke carrying a wooden box. The explosion painted across the lid appeared to not be just decoration.

“First crew has one round left,” he said. “Second has two.”

“Avoid the town.”

Pell looked offended. “I'm not wasting powder on houses with the Order standing outside.”

“Save it for anything that forms up,” she said as she rode away with the orc. The long-eared woman went over a building instead of using the street. The dwarf hurried after them while shoving powder down the barrel of his weapon.

He passed Waki. “Still carrying all those knives?”

“Come closer and count.”

He grinned and wisely continued moving.

A horn sounded outside. It was short and repeated. Saren climbed back up the wall and called down. Waki listened. “He says look.”

“I was specifically ordered to stay here.”

She pointed toward the stairs. “You are here.” Then upward. “Just higher.”

I decided that remained technically within my orders and followed him up. The field beyond Harrowford looked very different from the morning. Smoke rose from all over the Order's position. One supply wagon was burning while another had lost both horses and most of its wheels.

Near the road stood a thick iron tube on a low wooden carriage. Two wolves in harnesses stood in front of it. Several dwarves and goblins worked around the weapon while an orc stood in front of them with a shield almost as large as he was.

A second one of the contraptions had been positioned closer to the trees.

Through the smoke and retreating soldiers, red cloth appeared everywhere. It was tied around spears, arms and saddles, carried by humans, orcs, dwarves and beastkin moving across the fields.

The resistance brought close to a hundred fighters and had arrived with artillery. Ceara had brought enough people to make the Imperial Order leave. Waki stepped next to me and watched the fields.

A Paladin turned his Aegis toward the nearest iron weapon. The dwarf beside it covered one ear and yanked on a cord. White smoke swallowed the weapon and a boom rolled across the field. The Aegis flared but held. The cart beside it did not, and iron tore through the men who had failed to crowd behind the barrier.

The survivors crowded behind the remaining Paladins. Wolf riders immediately moved toward their sides. Resistance archers began shooting into any space not covered by the shield.

“They built those to break shields?” I asked.

Pell had climbed the stairs behind us. He leaned against the stone and breathed heavily. “No.” Another blast sounded. “They built them to make everyone want the shield.” I disliked that a goblin carrying explosives had access to something that clever.

The mounted Imperial officer sounded the withdrawal horn again. Some soldiers still had enough discipline to form lines. Most simply ran until an officer threatened them back into one. The resistance did not close the southern road. I pointed. “Why leave that open?”

Pell looked at me as though the answer was obvious. “Because then they leave.”

“You could trap them.”

“Then we'd have to kill all of them.” He looked toward the nearest iron tube. “And we're almost out of powder.”

“Dwarven?”

“The barrel.”

“And the explosives?”

“Goblin.”

“That combination seems unsafe.”

Pell smiled. “It is. For those on the other end.”

As the Order retreated, I could also see some of the fallen resistance riders. A wolf lay beside a broken wagon. Another dwarf with a red armband was being carried toward the trees. This wasn't a glorious rescue. People had simply arrived willing to lose their own lives before we ran out of ours.

Movement below caught my eye. More specifically the movement of purple cloth. The Inquisitor from the forest emerged from a side lane with a Paladin and three soldiers. He had apparently decided that retreat was not allowed.

Unfortunately for him, so had Ceara. She appeared at the opposite end of the street with her sword in one hand and her wolf waiting behind her.

The Inquisitor dragged the end of his staff across the cobblestones. A thin white line remained behind it. “Ceara!” I shouted. “The stones!” She stopped before crossing the line.

The Inquisitor frowned and began raising his staff. A dwarf fired from a doorway behind him, hitting his hand. He dropped the staff and the white line flickered.

The Paladin started to turn, but an arrow disappeared beneath his raised arm. Ceara moved before either could recover, caught the Inquisitor by his purple cape and drove her sword beneath his ribs. There was no final sermon. No promise that the Seven Holy Protectors would seek retribution. No warning that he would find me again.

Ceara stepped aside and let him fall as she looked up at us. “You were told to stay with the wounded.”

“He is wounded,” I said as I pointed to Saren.

She pointed at the stairs and we all went down.

Keme sent his few warriors through Harrowford looking for anyone still hiding with a weapon. Resistance soldiers came from the other direction doing the same. Nobody killed anyone who surrendered.

I found Nimiwa inside the church. The Sun Brave whose shoulder I had burned was lying on a table. Tovan held him still while Nimiwa and a resistance healer worked beside each other.

I sat against the wall, and my legs immediately suggested that getting back up might be a separate problem. A few minutes later Nimiwa looked over. “Uri. You hurt?”

I waved her off. “Just resting.” Her eyes moved across me anyway before returning to the warrior.

Ceara entered and started counting the people on the floor and tables. “Water first,” she ordered a troll next to her. “Food after.” She turned to another resistance member. “No pursuit beyond the farms.”

“You think they're coming back?” I asked.

She looked at me. “Not today.”

Nimiwa stared at the blood on her coat and torn sleeve. “You are late.” She pointed toward Ceara's arm. “You hurt?”

“Later.”

The oracle held out one hand. Ceara sighed and gave her the injured wrist. Blue light gathered beneath Nimiwa's fingers. The captain watched the wound close. “You should sit,” Nimiwa said.

“I have a town to manage.”

“You fall, you become patient.”

“You should be careful,” I said to Ceara. “She gets very serious when she intends to keep you alive.”

Ceara took a flask from Tovan and put it between us. “Both of you drink.” Then she walked out before either of us could object.

Nimiwa looked at the flask. “She is bossy.”

“You have no standing to complain.”

She drank and passed it to me. Outside, the withdrawal horn sounded again, farther away this time. The red cloth still hung from the church tower. I had spent most of the last day wondering whether anyone had seen it.

Someone had.

The rest could wait until I could stand again.