Chapter Ninety-Three: The First Taste, Part 2

  “Hen, over here,” Yue hissed to the healing mage as they crept closer to the top of the hill. “You can hide us, right?”

  “I think so,” Hen replied. “It will be tough, and I’m not sure how long I can hold it, but I’ll definitely try. I can give us all about ten minutes, I think. Any longer and most likely I will end up leaving us exposed.”

  “Will we be able to see each other as well?”

  “Yes, I am putting a protective bubble around all fifty of us, but don’t worry, I won’t allow any of the Horde inside the bubble.”

  “The Stragglers are waiting for you to do it, so whenever you’re ready, go ahead.”

  Nodding, Hen closed his eyes, and Yue felt a tingling sensation come over her body. Other members of the stragglers mumbled as they felt it too, and soon Hen had his eyes open once more.

  “It’s done,” He told her.

  “Alright, everyone!” She screamed, her mind still accounting her with the conversation with the Cult, although she ignored it. “Unsheath your swords.” The sounds of metal spread through the small army, and Yue unsheathed her own sword, holding it out in front of her. “We are now hidden from the Horde,” She continued. “When I say, you shall move forward, and when we hear the Horde, we shall attack immediately. Their encampment is just past this hill. We have ten minutes to get there.

  “I do not think I need to press on you the importance of this. Do not make a noise as we get closer. The more we make, the easier time they will have anticipating us. Do you understand?”

  A chorus of yesses rose among the Stragglers.

  “Good. We also have a Healing Mage with us. Hen, thank you for coming. At first, he will be fighting, but, if it comes to it, he will heal us. Now, if anyone wants to leave, or has something to say, I would advise them to do it now.” No one answered, so Yue nodded. “There’s no turning back now. Let’s do this.”

  Leading the way, yue began to slink to the top and then down the hill, the Horde’s encampment coming into view. There were fires placed throughout the camp, filled with the wolves, and Yue assumed there were maybe three or four hundred now.

  Just like the stories said, they were massive, each bedecked with armor and weapons. The armor protected their whole body, and their assortments of weapons all seemed bigger than normal. Their faces were angered and bloodthirsty, and the smallest of them stood at least three heads bigger than Yue.

  Muffled gasps and poorly held whispers grew through the Straggles, but the Horde were still too far away to hear them. They stood about two miles from where the Stadium had collapsed, close enough to the ocean so that if any other wolves arrived, they could join the army quickly, and far enough away from Magefell as to have evaded notice for as long as they had.

  Yue grew nervous as they got closer to the beasts. She and her army were out in the open, almost like sitting ducks! Sure, she had a sword, and she wielded it expertly, but if the Horde noticed them now, she was not sure she would last long. To her relief, though, the Horde truly did not seem to notice. Seemed like Hen’s magic had worked.

  Twisting her head, Yue raised her head. In unison, the stragglers stopped. They were now close enough to the wolves that if the fires didn’t have animals roasting then they would’ve been smelled.

  Yue lowered one of her fingers. The Stragglers of the Vanguard prepared to move into attack.

  Another finger lowered, and she saw heads lowered in prayer, eyes closed in fear, others turned up in determination.

  The third finger lowered. Yue herself was breathing in and out slowly-

  Middle finger lowered. When she lowered the last one, the Stragglers would attack. If she did nothing, then she could get out of this unscathed, and so would each of the Stragglers. No one would get hurt.

  No.

  She lowered the last finger. The time had come.

  With a silent roar, the Stragglers set upon the nearest wolves, almost two for every wolf. The animals began to roar and snarl as they saw their neighbors stabbed through the heads and limbs. Blood flowed everywhere, showering the invisible Vanguard Warriors in blood, but the magic was great enough to keep them invisible.

  Yue raised her sword and stabbed through the back of a wolf’s head, taking him through the brain and out the eye. The beast snarled, and twisted to see her, but her sword was already slitting his throat. He grasped his throat, gurgling animalistically, but she was already on the next one, who was waving his sword wildly, looking for the invisible enemy. Sliding in behind him, Yue chopped with her sword, and it got stuck in the beast’s neck, the head halfway severed. Withdrawing her sword, she chopped once more like an axe, the head finally coming off and onto the ground. Corpses of wolves were already lining the ground, and the Sterkona couldn’t see any Vanguard ones down yet. One man limped, but it seemed like he’d strained a muscle at most.

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  It had now been five minutes since they had become invisible. They only had five more.

  A boulder flew past her, thrown by magic, and she attacked the wolf that it struck, making it fall back into the flames, where it screamed in pain as the fire melded its armor to its body.

  Now the Horde encampment was in complete disarray. All they knew was that something was killing them, and they were beginning to realize they wouldn’t be able to take on the unseen enemy alone. Bands of wolves began to stick together, forming a circle and swinging at the air. This seemed to work, most warriors steering clear of those particular battles, but Mage Hen was always there to throw a fireball or some other magic, although the magic would be seen, and thus sometimes the wolves would dodge it.

  So far, the battle was looking good, and Yue leapt to fight with a group of three Wolves, standing in a triangle, one holding an axe that flew through the air at blinding speeds. If she could take down this one, then the others would come easily.

  “Together?” Alyx asked beside her.

  “Together.”

  They rushed the wolf and Alyx dodged its axe deftly, striking it in its armor, and once the wolf swung at her, Yue struck from beside, catching it in the arm, a break in the armor. Its right arm fell to the ground, and soon Alyx and Yue had taken care of it. The two wolves were already rushing them, not seeing them but guessing. Both girls twisted to the sides, rushing in to kill the wolves.

  “They’re tough to kill,” Alyx huffed as blood sprayed. “But it’s satisfying and damn good at clearing my head.”

  “Good.”

  Seven minutes passed now by Yue’s judgment. They didn’t have long left, and they needed to make the most of it.

  Counting up the corpses, the Sterkona gave herself a rough estimate of about fifty dead, and they were dying much slower now. She assumed that by the time the ten minutes had passed, there would probably be about seventy-five or eighty dead. It wasn’t enough to defeat the Horde that was here, but it was enough to give them the edge over the four hundred.

  The Horde was truly starting to regroup now, to defend themself against the onslaught of the Vanguard, but the magic still pummeled into them. Hen looked gaunt and tired, and Yue knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

  A scream split the night. Turning quickly, Yue found a woman on the ground, clutching her ruined leg, staring in horror at the wolf looming over her, axe raised. Yue rushed for the wolf, but she knew it was too late. She looked on in sadness as the wolf lowered his weapon.

  It stopped halfway, and Hen grunted in concentration as he focused on it. Then the magic gave way.

  Crunch.

  Blood, brain, and bone sprayed over the battlefield.

  And thus was the first casualty for the Vanguard killed.

  Yue couldn’t stop the tears from coming to her face. She felt horrible about it. In reality, she’d never have been able to do anything about it, but they were just fifty, a small number, and, as their leader, she felt the need to protect all of them. If they died, the blame should fall on her.

  She needed to worry about it later. The invisibility bubble would end any minute now.

  Rushing for the wolf that had killed the warrior, she found three other Stragglers doing the same. They reached it at the same time and pummeled it with their weapons, punching into the beast with a ferocity Yue felt was unmatched. The beast fell in a torrent of blood, body parts falling like pieces of parchment.

  Before it even died, Yue was moving on to the next beast, moving expertly and swinging with a well-driven thrust, catching the beast through the roaring mouth. Its eyes widened like it had seen her then fell to the ground, and the Sterkona stabbed it again, ending its life.

  She wiped the blood on her shirt and looked around once more. She located all her friends fighting, Alyx and Aster together, but the others all in pockets, dealing with their own wolf. Joanne was having trouble, struggling with a wolf over twice her size, but yue could tell she would be able to escape it. Joanne was smart, she could pass it.

  Her next target ws in front of her, but it was the only one she could see that would be able to be killed. The others had regrouped well enough to defend themselves. The one she was targeting was looking around in shock, waiting for the attack that it knew would come but didn’t know where from.

  She began to slink towards him, hoping he didn’t hear her. The wolf was roaring in defiance, its axe everywhere all at once, hacking at the air, the beast hoping that it hit flesh and bone. Yue was close, all she had to do was…

  The beast turned to look straight at her, and roared. Then it charged, and Yue realized the truth.

  The bubble was gone.

  She dashed for the beast and it came at her, swinging. Ducking under its lunger, she stabbed up, but it’s armor was enough to block her attack. Now behind him, Yue swung again, but the beast moved fast, crashing into her, and sending her to the ground. It stomped after her, raising its foot to shatter her. Yelling, she stabbed up, pushing past its foot. It screamed, and fell backwards, and she advanced on it until she stabbed its head. Blood sprayed over her and the beast shrieked one last time in agony as it died, clawing weakly into the air, before finally falling limp.

  The wolf was dead, but now more than one was coming after her. The battle had now truly started, but was the army ready?

  Screams began to echo as the Vanguard fought the beasts, the Horde’s weapon-wielding expert, and their strength was overwhelming. Many in the Stragglers cried in pain, falling to the ground. Hen was moving quickly between the wounded, tending to those who needed it the most while also avoiding the wolves who went after the mage.

  And thus the tides of battle began to turn in front of Yue’s eyes to her increasing horror.