The city was drowning in panic. The streets were full of people desperately dumping their possessions into carts or wagons, some just dragging sacks behind them as they headed for the nearest city gate. Fights were breaking out in the streets, blocking the already congested traffic. Thyrsusstein was boiling over.
Rapunzel stepped out of the way of a wagon tearing down the street with as much speed the mule dragging it could muster. The wheels creaked and rattled on the uneven cobblestone. Rapunzel doubted that they would last until the gate.
Red stepped up next to her. "Bloody hell, it's a stampede."
Above them a woman was throwing clothes out of a window for her husband to catch and pile onto a small handcart. Two small children were clinging to his legs. Looking around with wide eyes, the children could clearly tell something was wrong by how their parents were acting, but didn't understand what.
A rough looking group turned the corner and spotted the family. Two men and a woman. Scars and tattoos identified them as members of the carver gang, so called because of the long knives they carried.
Rapunzel stepped in their way and shook her head. "Keep moving."
The leader gave her a black-toothed grin. "Or what, princess?"
Rapunzel froze for a moment, the word so unexpected, it cut right through her.
Red stepped forward. "Beat it, a-hole."
He squared off against her, a full head taller. Red leaned away. "Hells man, when was the last time you took a bath?"
His knife flicked to her throat and vicious grin spread across his scarred lips. "Go on, say one more-"
Red kicked him. In a delicate place. A wheezing sound escaped from his lips as he folded up. "Alright" she said, waving with a hand. "Weapons, now."
The other woman charged her, but received a kick in a similar place. Red picked up her knife as well. The turned to the third member of the group. "I got another kick in me if that's what you're waiting for."
He dropped the knife and fled. She handed the knives to the confused father of the family and turned to Rapunzel. "What's up with you?"
"Nothing. Sorry about that, let's get to the main plaza, see what it's like in the center."
"You know, all this killing bad guys, now rescuing defenseless families... It's all looking a bit heroic, and that's concerning. Heroes don't get paid enough." Red gave her a tired look. "Please tell me we're not doing this because it's like, noble or some shit like that."
"The Wheel kidnapped and tortured me as a child. They took a hair from me and I think that's what they are using to bind Alice. I'm getting it back."
Red smiled and looked down to the wide-eyed children staring up at her. "See? Revenge. That, I can get behind."
~
They reached the main plaza, where they had their duel that morning, to find it full of guards and hunters, along with assorted nosy people and rubber-neckers. The goblin from that morning was repainting the sign on the troll. It now said "Experience the
A dull rumble echoed over the city and the flagstones vibrated under their feet. Beyond the houses on the other side of the plaza, a plume of dust expanded over the richer north district. The houses there, all made of expensive stone, were at least three stories high, obscuring whatever was happening.
Near the center of the plaza, the guard captain was shouting orders at the ranked guards, while the manager of the Hunters guild was in deep discussion with his subordinates. He looked up at Rapunzel. "You're helping out?" he asked, while throwing a glance at Red.
"Yes, we found out what is happening."
"Captain! New info." called the manager, and the older looking captain briskly marched towards them. A no-nonsense man with close-cropped hair but a large beard the same color as his gray and black uniform.
"Report!" he barked in a voice used to giving orders. Rapunzel had to resist the instinct to stand at attention, years of training in the Hunters having drilled discipline into her muscles, bypassing the brain.
"Sir. The Wheel, or a splinter group, brought Alice into the city and used her to create chimeras. She and their leaders were gone by the time we found them. They were planning some sort of 'Ascension', whatever that means."
"You're saying they have a measure of control over Alice?" asked the captain at much too high a volume.
"We believe so."
He nodded. "Alright." he was about to turn away when a shudder went through the ground below them, the flagstones shifting and flowing like pebbles in a river. Some were pushed out as the eddies of movement squeezed them against each other, the pressure popping them out of the tidy stonework. To the north, a gray hill made of brick and stone rose over the city, reaching above the houses.
"What in tarnation is that?" called the captain, echoing everyone's feelings. Red whistled at the terrifying sight.
"That, captain, is an elemental. If records are to be trusted."
They all turned to see a dapper looking gentleman approach. He wore a tailored suit and his graying hair framed a sharp face. Sharp nose, sharp eyebrows, sharp mouth, and eyes the color of steel.
"Who are you?"
"Immaterial. Merely a concerned citizen, giving the benefit of my knowledge." He pointed a cane at the moving, shifting mass of stone. "That, my good man, is an elemental. Those usually result as the side effect of magical experiments gone awry, or in areas of potent natural magic. They are, put simply, animated elements. This one appears to be of the stone variety."
"So how do we kill it?" asked Red.
"Ah, a most pertinent question. I'm unfortunately in the position to inform you that elementals are functionally immortal. They rage and destroy until the magic that animated them has burned itself out, then they fall apart."
He raised a finger. "However, since it takes magic for them to grow, and to assimilate nearby materials, extensive damage might cause it to expend more magic re-constituting itself, and thus run out of magic sooner. I recommend explosives and artillery. Anything that removes large section of of the main body. I would hurry though, it appears to be growing rapidly."
"How big will it get?" asked the captain, looking to the north with concern.
"Oh, no larger than four, maybe five stories. The more mass, the more magic required to animate it." He gave a short bow. "And with that, I bid you good luck and adieu."
"Oi, where are you going?" asked the captain.
"Why, fleeing the city, my good man. There's an elemental on the loose, hadn't you heard?" he said with a wry smile. "Ladies." He mimed tipping a hat and strode off towards a man who had clearly been waiting for him. Everyone stared after him for a moment.
"You heard him. Explosives!" yelled the captain. "Get all the artillery we have."
A wide-eyes lieutenant stammered "We don't have any artillery, it's all at the palace."
"Get a message up there, have them ready to fire."
"On our own city sir?"
"There won't be much of a city left if we let that thing rampage all night. And as for you- Where have the girls gone?"
~
Rapunzel and Red had discretely stepped away after the strange man had given all his information, and were on their way towards the elemental. There were fewer and fewer people in the streets as they approached the crashing, grinding sounds somewhere in the north district.
This was home to the richer addresses, where merchants, bankers and landlords resided. All of the houses were built of stone, and were generally taller than the rest of the city. Here three stories was the average, with some reaching five. Lots of material for the elemental.
A sound like an avalanche rumbled just behind the next corner, but they didn't need to walk that far. The corner building collapsed in on itself, crashing into a heap and sending a cloud of dust into the air. They came to a stop, waiting for whatever was coming through the other side. But nothing did.
The building itself moved. The rubble along with part of the street all flowed against gravity and when a wave of stone pushed from behind, it rose and piled itself over the wave, climbing high and forming a moving hill which flowed over the street with the sound of a hundred milling stones.
Rapunzel and Red both stood and stared. The chimeras had been big, the troll carrying the viewing platform was big, but seeing something the size of a building move like a living thing... It took a moment for the mind to process what was happening. It gave you the feeling that you were moving instead, because it was the landscape that was shifting.
The elemental flowed across the street, leaving a trail of bare earth where it had stripped the cobblestones off the street. It crashed into the next building, which collapsed on top of it.
"So... got a plan there, Blondie?"
Rapunzel stared at the building slowly being absorbed. "You heard the man. The more damage, the faster it'll disappear. So, we damage it."
"How are we supposed to do that?" demanded Red, gesturing at the animate pile of rock. "It's made of rocks and bricks and shit."
"Are you telling me you can't break through rock?" asked Rapunzel tauntingly, unsheathing her swords.
"Pfff. Of course I can." scoffed Red defensively. "I just didn't think you could."
"Great, then there's no problem." said Rapunzel with a smile.
She turned towards the building being ingested by the elemental and started walking, rolling her shoulders.
"I'll eh... I'll hold back so you can keep up." said Red, looking down at her fists and back up at the rolling hill of stone.
Rapunzel released both loops of hair, attaching them to her swords. She felt the blades channel the power and become extensions of herself. The elemental seemed to pause a second as she did, and she got the taste of something hidden. But that faint feeling was over very quickly. She brought down her swords, slicing through the stones as easily as water. With about the same effect. The cut stones simply continued their movement through the elemental, soon disappearing in the churning mass of stone.
OK, different tac. She dug in one of her swords like a spade, using it as leverage to fling a chunk of stone behind her. Next to her Red was just punching into the flow of stones and pulling out chunks like a dog digging a hole. She was actually doing better than her, but both their efforts had no visible effect on the elemental. The last of the building fell into it and it lay there, ignoring the small holes they were making.
The stones started pulsing inwards, a great heart of stone contracting and expanding the entire hill of rubble. Rapunzel and Red exchanged a look and jumped off, taking a bit of distance. The elemental seemed to be shrinking, like something in the middle was consuming its mass. Rapunzel felt a slight something from that direction, but couldn't see anything. The pulsing stopped after a moment, and it mobilized again, simply moving sideways and crashing into another building.
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"Well, we tried." said Red. "Anything else you want to try before we leave?"
"It's starting to grow appendages." Said Rapunzel, pointing. Amorphous limbs of stone were slowly pushing out of the mass, reaching for nearby buildings. "Those we can break."
"Oki doki. Should I- ...and she's gone." Red waited another moment for dramatic effect and jogged towards the stone limb Rapunzel hadn't gone for.
Rapunzel ran for the limb growing on the left side of the elemental. It was reaching across the road for the next building. Almost hesitatingly, like a newborn leaning to walk, it stretched until it became too thin and unstable, then absorbed more mass from the main body, growing thicker and stretching again. It was about as thick as a small barrel, and when it reached the other building, it began to assimilate the surrounding stone, which started to flow back to the elemental.
Rapunzel split one lock of hair to each leg and jumped up to the first story window, then the second, using a street lamp as a foothold. Judging her jump, she leapt up to the limb, which didn't seem to notice her. She raised a sword, and with one smooth motion cut through it.
The reaction was instantaneous. The severed part fell apart as loose stones and rubble, while the part she was standing on jerked back, much faster than before, throwing her into free fall. Rapunzel flicked both her locks towards the ground, catching herself and cushioning her landing.
But the biggest reaction came from the elemental's main body. It shuddered, and for the first time Rapunzel felt it turn it's attention on her. It had no eyes, but her hair felt it's gaze all the same. A mountain looking down on an ant. It only lasted a second though, as Red punched through her own limp, which collapsed underneath her, sending her falling.
She bounced a down the elemental's side, seeming to hit every stone on the way. Eventually she rolled onto the street, continuing her roll into a tumble, finally rolling into a standing pose like an acrobat finishing a routine.
"Tada!" she called, holding up her hands and smiling under a layer of dust.
Then a huge fist of stone punched her through the next building.
Rapunzel turned to see the elemental rise up high, supported by three limbs that spread out in front of it like spider's legs, the one that had struck Red retracting to join the others. A fourth limb extended from it's side and smashed through the remains of the next house down the street. It started shoveling stones towards the elemental, while near the top, a series of bumps and depression formed what almost looked like a face.
Red climbed out of the hole in the building she had created. "Rude." she commented. "A written review would have been just as good."
She came and stood next to Rapunzel. "Keep smashing?"
Rapunzel nodded and they got to work.
Again they split up, each going for one of the supporting limbs. Rapunzel reached the one in the middle and cut through it in a single strike. The perfectly horizontal cut made the stone slip for moment, before the two halves fused back together. Chiding herself, Rapunzel raised a sword and cut diagonally. This time the weight of the elemental pushed the column of stone to the side, the two halves falling apart and a large chunk of the remaining leg crumbling as the sharp edge couldn't hold the weight.
A rumble came from the elemental and a smaller limb extended towards her. It seemed pretty slow compared- Rapunzel jerked to the side as the limb shot forward like a whip, a tonne of stone slashing through the air at head height.
Rapunzel retreated out of range. If that had hit... She looked for Red, who was apparently grappling her own retaliatory stone whip. She was holding on as the whip smashed into the ground and buildings, tearing off chunks with her bare hands. Eventually the limb broke apart mid flight, sending her and a pile of now loose stones through the air to crash against the street.
Rapunzel rushed forward. The middle limb was slowly regrowing, and so was the one on the right, which Red had broken. The elemental was tilting, trying to balance it's weight on the remaining limb. Rapunzel didn't waste any time. She rushed to the left limb, cutting through it as she passed, then continued on towards the elemental. The whip-like limb needed a few moments to form, during which time it was mostly inert. Her sword cut through it as she passed and she started running up the now three story pile of debris that was the elemental.
The stones beneath her feet bucked, flowing around her and trying to grab hold of her, but her empowered jumps kept her out of reach. She kept moving, heading for any forming limbs and cutting them off early. The elemental leaned precariously backwards as its sheer weight threatened to topple it over. Rapunzel gauged its size as she tried to keep her balance.
She adjusted her hat. She could pull out all the stops, but she would probably end up doing more damage to the city than the elemental.
The elemental tilted the other way, and Rapunzel had to stick her sword into the stone to create a foothold. She looked down to see the ruined street below her. To her right, Red was climbing the remains of the neighboring building. She reached the highest intact point, a still standing central chimney, and with a powerful leap, landed on what could be described as the elemental's head.
Her arms looked bigger and longer, ending in a pair of half claws half hands.. She caught onto the elemental, adjusted her grip, and started punching it. Well... less punching, more digging. She dug her arm into the elbow, and pulled, ripping out large chunks of stone. The elemental leaned back, almost throwing Rapunzel and Red off. But Red had an arm buried in stone and Rapunzel kept a grip on her sword as she was swung back and forth.
Red kept ripping out chunks, burrowing onto the side of the elemental's 'head'. Stones flowed in to crush her, but that only gave her a more stable position from which to attack. Rapunzel stabbed her second sword higher as rocks rained down from above. She used her swords to climb, until the angle of the elemental was such that she could get a foothold. She reached Red, who had one leg pinned by rock, but was still ripping out chunks to land far below onto the street. Looking down at the street, Rapunzel noticed the height they were at. At least up to a fourth floor, judging by all the buildings around and below them.
"I'll cut from the other side, you rip it off!" shouted Rapunzel over the sound of grinding rocks. Red grunted in acknowledgment. Rapunzel made her way to the other side of the dome that appeared to be the head, and readied her swords.
"Ready?" she yelled.
"Go!" came the answering shout.
Rapunzel pulled back both her swords, pumping enough power through her hair to make them hum. She cut two clean lines across, each a finger's width apart, aiming to weaken the material. The dome shifted a bit but as it began to lift, the stones reattached and stuck together. Rapunzel slashed again and again as the stones reached out to reconnect. This time she didn't stop. A steady rhythm of cuts rained down on the elemental and the top began to move. The stones that tried to reconnect were swiftly cut and, looking a bit like a piece of hot cheese being separated, the top split apart, Red lifting, then chucking it over the edge.
Red panted, physically deflating as her arms and upper body returned to normal. The elemental had gone still, the rocks below their feet only shifting slightly, as if unsure.
"Hey, I think we-" Red began, clearly tempting fate. Fate didn't even wait that long to retaliate. The elemental melted below them, spreading across the street like a flood and crashing against multiple houses at the ground floor.
Red and Rapunzel were once again left in free fall, landing relatively unharmed. They quickly ran out of the churning mass of stones that the street had become, and Rapunzel tried to assess the situation. The elemental was quickly absorbing mass, causing the ground floor of most of the nearby buildings to collapse. There was no way to stop the elemental from absorbing the rubble from the collapsing buildings. Like a whirlpool, the stones gathered at the center, where a round dome of stone was steadily expanding to a huge size.
Rapunzel wiped her face, her sleeve coming back bloody. Well, if it didn't hurt enough for her to notice, it wasn't important. A few bruises were starting to announce their presence, but nothing serious. She had gotten through lightly.
"Hey how big did the guy say elementals got?" asked Red, peering up at the now massive creature.
"5 floors."
"Looks like we got ourselves a try-hard."
Rapunzel looked up at the still growing elemental. The dark mass of stone was difficult to make out against a sunset sky painted with dark crimson. But by now it was at least seven stories high, and growing.
Red squinted up as well.
"Hey, not to pile on, but that Master guy made this, right?"
"Yeah."
"So, what's stopping him making another one if we beat it?"
Rapunzel thought for a moment.
"Damn. Can you track him down?"
Red shrugged. "I can try tracking your hair. He must have been close to here at some point."
"Do that. I'll try and..." Rapunzel gestured at the elemental. "Deal with this."
Red nodded and sprinted down the street, nose leading the way.
Rapunzel looked up at the mountain of stone. Pull out all the stops? What if there was indeed a second elemental just around the corner? She was running out of options.
The sound of boots hitting stone made her turn around and look down the street. At the end of the street, Hans was running towards her, one large barrel under each arm like they weighed nothing. He reached her and carefully lowered the barrels to the ground, which landed with a weighty thump. Huh, she had always thought his nickname of 'strong Hans' had been a joke.
"Gunpowder." he explained, between deep breaths. He pulled out a hand drill and furiously started drilling. "What's the situation?" he asked as the drill punctured the thick lid.
"It keeps growing. It's vulnerable on the limbs it extends, otherwise hard to damage."
Hans nodded, pulling out a long fuse that was hanging from his belt.
"Where are the rest?" asked Rapunzel, not seeing anyone else approaching.
"Still loading barrels onto a cart. It took a while to get to the armory and back." He stuffed the fuse into the hole and started on the second barrel. Another building collapsed on the other side of the elemental. The whirlpool of debris had only expanded, and the elemental was only growing in size.
Hans finished preparing the second barrel and heaved them both under his arms. "Where?" he asked laconically. Rapunzel considered for a moment. The explosion was likely to send shrapnel and debris flying, so it was probably a good idea to aim that away from the rest of the city.
"Towards the north." she said, pointing at the part of the elemental facing away from the north wall. There were still houses in the way but less city.
Hans jogged across the ruined street, jumping over the slow moving flow of stones. Rapunzel followed, keeping an eye out for the elemental. High above, it's dark silhouette didn't seem to move much, concentrating on growing.
They reached the south side and Hans nodded up at the elemental. "Any place in particular?"
But Rapunzel was looking down, at the stream of stones flowing past, and being absorbed. "Put them on the flowing stones, maybe it'll try to swallow it."
Hans set one barrel down and it slowly ambled away like, well, a barrel down a river. He used a camp lighter to light the fuse, and did the same for the second barrel, which he rolled towards the elemental for it to land on another river of stone. Then they ran for it. They turned the corner and kept running. Three houses down was an alley, which they entered and hunkered down. A few tense seconds passed, then a few more.
"How long is the fuse?" asked Rapunzel.
"About 30 seconds. Give or take."
They waited for another while. All they could hear was the distant grinding of the elemental and the occasional collapsing building. Rapunzel took a moment for a deep breath, and to close her stinging eyes.
Shhh-Boom! An explosion echoed through the city, followed by a sound of falling rocks pelting rooftops. The street at the end of the alley was peppered with stone fragments, then a dust cloud swept past.
Rapunzel and Hans exited the alley to a street filled with chunks of rock, broken roof tiles, and the occasional shredded piece of furniture.
"Only one." remarked Hans.
They approached carefully, wary of another explosion, but none came. The elemental was still standing, multiple limbs supporting it as a crater in its side made it slimmer near the ground than above. Why it didn't simply shrink to fill the hole was anybody's guess.
Rapunzel unsheathed her swords and charged, cutting through the supporting limbs and once again sending the elemental on a slow fall. It blocked the sky as it fell above her and she rushed to get out from underneath. A limb shot out to block her path and she slid under it with barely a second to spare. The elemental crashed into the ground, the impact sending a shockwave along the ground that sprung cracks in the buildings still standing, a cloud of dust quickly following behind.
Between the fall and the dust, Rapunzel noticed something strange about the elemental. A curious sphere of stone was protruding from it's side. Roughly the size of a small room, similar to the size of small hill it had started out as, the dome was static and unmoving, while the rest of the elemental flowed around it. It had been located on the other side of the elemental, so maybe that's why she hadn't noticed it before. The dome was swiftly swallowed by the elemental, it's mass once more flowing towards the middle. The elemental rose again, dragging a few houses with it. She retreated, dodging the regrowing limbs that blindly searched for more stone.
On the other side, Hans was gesturing at the distant street, where a wagon was being pulled by a team of guards and Hunters, loaded with gunpowder barrels. Finally! Some decent firepower.
The wagon clattered down the torn up street, a few ropes all that held the barrels in place. The wagon came to a halt next to Rapunzel, the Hunters immediately working to release the ropes. One of them carrying a torch stood further back, trying to shed as much light as possible without blowing them all to smithereens.
They were just unloading the first barrel when a shiver went down Rapunzel's back. Her hair was sensing danger, just like the first time the elemental had attacked them deliberately. She looked up at the shadow blotting out the night sky. She couldn't see anything with her eyes, but she knew it was looking at them. And this time it didn't feel like an animal or a thing of instincts. There was intent behind it's gaze. A long limb materialized out of the gloom, rising ponderously above them.
"Incoming!" She called and leapt out of the way. The Hunters scattered and the guards threw themselves to the ground.
A pillar of stone crashed down, obliterating the wagon and it's contents. Contrary to narrative expectations, the gunpowder did not ignite. Then, something happened that solidified the feeling of dread running through her veins. The stone limb scooped up the wagon, the gunpowder barrels and a good chunk of street. It flung everything over the rooftops, scattering the explosives over the city.
That wasn't something a monster would do, not something an animal would do. There was intelligence there. She had been fighting it like she would a beast. If this thing wasn't destroying random buildings, if it had a plan, then they were in a whole lot more trouble that they had assumed.
The Hunters and guards got up unsteadily and retreated. One of them blew a signal on a slightly dented trumpet.
"Clear the area!" he called. "I just gave the signal for the artillery."
Rapunzel ran away with the rest of them, as an answering trumpet sounded from higher up, in the direction of the castle. Red appeared next to her, jogging along.
"Hiya." She waved as she easily caught up to her. "So... I got good news and I got some bad news. Which do you want to hear first."
Rapunzel was too exhausted to argue. "The good ones?"
Red smiled. "I found the master dude."
"Did you kill him? What about Alice?"
"Yeah, that's the bad news. They are, as far as my nose can tell, right there." she turned and pointed upwards.
Rapunzel followed the finger. It pointed straight at the elemental. It took a moment for Rapunzel's tired mind to catch up. "They are in the elemental?"
"That's where the scent leads. As far as I can tell with all the gunpowder all over the place."
Rapunzel turned to look at the elemental. It stood more than twice the height of the houses, a titan looming over the city. Something boomed in the distance, a soft whooshing sound, and a cannonball blasted a large chunk out of the elemental's side.
Rapunzel and Red ran away as the bombardment began.