Dream (25 page)

The banner surrounded by dead men and beasts was a quarter mile from their entry point; the Black Talons moved at a measured pace towards it, straining to catch the first indications of the enemy as they moved.

They had covered half the distance and were passing a dead horse which had been stripped of its saddle and accouterments when Jeff stopped. “One inbound, east.”

A split second later a revenant flared into full view ten feet from the Night-grifter. As it took its first stalking step forward an arrow struck it in the area of the ribs, the
snap
of the bow’s release making the other Talons jump. The creature staggered at the impact and seemed to hesitate a second before sweeping forward, mismatched blades held ready, only to encounter Jeff’s bang-stick to the chest. Fred leapt in and hewed mightily as the creature staggered from the impact of the blast, and then Jeff had Blackwand drawn and was in the fight.

“West!” Shad yelled, and a second later a second revenant flashed into being. Derek hit it with two arrows as it closed, the second nearly missing, and the creature turned slightly towards the Shadowmancer just before Shad hit it with the bang stick.

Derek hit it with a bolt of energy before the Jinxman used a second bang stick to shatter what passed as the revenant’s head.

“Sam, you got the sticks?” Shad called, dry-throated and tense, as Fred resumed his position.

“Yeah. Half fired.”

“Somebody made it this far,” Jeff observed. “That horse is stripped of gear.”

“We’re going to push a little further,” Shad decided, drawing his sword and arranging it so that he could hold it against his shield with the fingers of his left hand.

“They are surprised we can see them,” Derek observed. “They must fight like the alien in
Predator
.”

Moving cautiously they closed on the banner, sweat dripping despite the breeze. “This is worse than a minefield,” Jeff said from between clenched teeth as they began to pass horses and riders who had been brought down by the infantry’s missile weapons.

“New plan,” Shad halted by a mummified horse, its rider lying in a boney heap nearby. “Derek, salvage this guy. We’re going to make a shallow arc towards the east through these bodies and then head back. I’ll be honest with you guys, this is harder than I thought it would be.”

No one disagreed. “OK,” Derek stuffed a belt pouch into the sack that Fred, like all the Talons, had tied to the back of his belt. “See that horse near the yellow flowers? The quiver on the saddle is real fancy, might be gold inlay. Let’s head towards that, cut close by that gray-ish horse on the way.”

Shad eyed the path. “OK, but let’s not get too greedy.”

“Horse archers, Shad. Composite bows, I bet,” Derek reminded him. “That one is the only one I can see that still has any archer gear left.”

“Others have made it this far,” Fred nodded.

“Yeah, and others have become revenants,” Jeff reminded them as the wedge turned and moved east-southeast.

“We’re not going to do this in one go,” Shad reminded them. “Fancy saddle is the high water mark-its back out after that.”

After Derek swiftly checked it for loot they eased past the gray horse; Sam startled all of them by suddenly crashing to the ground in a clatter of equipment.

“Could you make just a little more noise?” Shad snapped. “I don’t think
every
revenant heard that.”

“Tripped on a rope,” the Bard muttered, scrambling to gather the empty bang sticks.

“Hey, that’s a neat-looking rope.” Derek knelt and gathered it in.

“Incoming,” Jeff reported, hefting a bang stick, and a revenant materialized to the Night-grifter’s front. Derek paused in gathering the rope to hit it with a blue-white bolt of energy, and Shad dropped his bang stick to try a throwing knife, which struck true.

The shop teacher smoothly ducked the undead creature’s opening swing and riposted with a bang stick to the thing’s face, dropping the creature as Derek hit it with another bolt of energy.

“You see my knife? Forget it then. You done, Derek? Let’s go.” Shad checked in all directions. “This is not getting any safer.”

“Look at that,” Sam pointed as they moved onward.

“Clothes and an ordinary-looking sword,” Jeff shrugged. “So what?”

“No body. A bravo or looter became a revenant there.”

The Talons moved on, sobered by the thought.

“You have one minute, Derek,” Shad advised when they reached the horse. “Then we are DEROS’ing out of here.”

“Dee-ross?” Sam asked.

“Leaving,” Jeff snapped. “Military term. Stay alert.”

“Hey, there’s a bow case under the horse, the bow is still in it!” The Shadowmancer exclaimed from where he was kneeling by the horse.

“Ruined, then. Let’s get gone.” The Jinxman eyed the field with suspicion.

“I don’t think it is ruined.”

Shad sighed. “Fred, give me another bang stick and help Derek.”

The big barbarian lifted the dried remains by the saddle and held it, red-faced and sweating, while Derek sawed through straps and cords with the knife he had gotten in Wyrm.

“Got it.” The horse cadaver
thudded
back onto the grass. “Let’s check out the rider….”

“Back in formation,” Shad snapped. “Time to go-we’ve got movement to the northeast.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Well, that was an education,” Jeff observed as Shad used charms to heal Fred’s arm and Derek’s leg. The Talons were back in the rain, having slain two more revenants on their way out.

“Yeah,” Fred sighed, massaging his arm. “But it wasn’t free.”

“Let’s head back,” Shad flicked water off his hat and settled it back in place. “Our rain cloaks are about fifty yards east of here.”

“Well, all twelve sticks fired, and they affect the revenants,” a pale-faced Derek observed as he limped along through the rain. “And the revenants are used to being hard to see, so they are careless; that’s good to know. Steel affects them, as do my spells.”

“The thing we do not know is if they communicate,” Shad observed as they reached their rain cloaks. “If they don’t, we will have an advantage next time; if not, then we have a problem.”

“They don’t communicate,” Derek snapped his fingers. “Other outlanders have been here-we know that for a fact.’

“And even being able to see them isn’t all that huge of an advantage,” Jeff observed. “That last pair really got rough.”

“They knew we had dealt with others,” Fred said somberly. “We were heading out-that tipped them off.”

“Which means we need to plan based on the fact that extraction is harder than infiltration,” Shad agreed.

“We didn’t go very far in,” Sam said worriedly. “The deepest point we reached was pretty picked over. How are we going to get further in?”

“I didn’t use my runes this time, and we will also move faster next time,” Shad explained as he unlaced the left cuff of his shirt of plates. “Tomorrow we need to operate at the trot, and do more studying of the scene before we enter so that we have a loot plan in place before we move.”

“Why wait until tomorrow?” Derek asked. “I can draw enough power inside our quarters to be ready by the afternoon.”

The Jinxman held up his left arm. “Because tonight we are going to level.”

As the fort came into view Jeff jabbed a finger at it. “Can we trust Justin?”

“In what particular?” Sam asked.

“He could tip off some bandit friends when we leave.”

“If we are tough enough to pull significant loot off the Great Field then robbing us would be a high-risk operation,” Shad pointed out. “And if we take one of his buddies alive, Justin’s skull would not survive the next scar. No, he won’t tip bandits, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he’s reporting visitors to various factions.”

“The Council, you think?”

“Stands to reason,” Jeff mused. “Outlanders have an advantage here, and it’s the best way to gear up quick.”

“Which makes me wonder,” Shad said slowly. “They brought us here as pure first levels in terms of equipment, strictly off-the-shelf gear. I wondered at the start why they couldn’t have slipped us a few enchanted items to give us an edge.”

“Budget issues?” Sam suggested.

“Maybe. But why not tell us about the Great Field? That wouldn’t cost them a dime, or copper penny, and it would give us an edge in the job of taking out the people the Council wants us to take out. If it wasn’t for Sam we would still be drudging around for cash and experience. Still fourth level.”

“Sam, how hard was it to learn about this place?” Derek asked.

“Huh? Well…not so much. I spend a lot of time listening to bravos talk. Getting the hard data on the place, now, that was another proposition. A lot of the stuff they say in the taverns is pretty far off base.”

“Without the bang sticks the odds of getting anything worth risking your life is pretty thin,” Jeff said thoughtfully. “I’m not looking forward to going back in.”

“Derek, what did we get?” Shad asked the Shadowmancer.

“A steel skull-cap type helm, a bow, a saddle quiver with etched brass inlaid plates, the rope, and a pouch of coins,” he flipped the Jinxman a hexagonal silver coin. “Forty-one of these.”

“Huh. I wonder if anyone collects coins in this place.” He passed the coin back. “See what exchange rate Justin will give us, and what food he has for sale.”

“We would get a better price in the City-State,” Jeff pointed out.

“Bravos showing up with ancient coins would draw too much attention,” Fred shook his head. “Sam heard about us selling that bronze sword.”

“Good point.”

Margit had water on the boil and a stew bubbling in their small camp kettle when they arrived at their quarters, so the Talons were able to wash up a bit and get a meal of sorts.

“Derek, get a read on the captured gear ASAP,” Shad said as he laid out his tools. “What did Justin offer for the coins?”

“Ten Marks, a ten-pound ham, twenty big potatoes, and six loaves of fairly fresh bread for the coins and the quiver.”

“That’s fair. Give Margit two Marks.” Shad caught Jeff looking at him and shrugged. “We’re going home-she’s stuck here.”

“He did that shit in Iraq, too,” Fred advised Sam. “Inconsistent bastard. Light up an entire neighborhood, then hand out MREs.”

Shad held up a single digit before resuming work on his charms.

Other than Derek playing with the loot and Shad working on charms, the Talons spent the afternoon napping, rousing only when Margit finished making their evening meal.

“How are we on charms?” Jeff asked as Margit dished out ham and potato stew.

“About where we were this morning.” Shad leaned forward to see Derek. “What’s the word on the loot?”

“The helm is superior craftsmanship but not enchanted. The bow and rope are enchanted-the bow is a very high quality composite bow juiced up to deal double damage when the target is within a hundred feet. The rope is some sort of silk, I’m guessing spider silk. It’s a command-able rope, you can send it to tie itself off to something non-living.’

“That will make climbing easier, if we ever have to climb anything.”

“Its more than that-I used it to pick up branches and my bow case-we can use it to snake loot out when we get in as deep as we dare.”

“Does it come back to you?”

“No, you have to reel it in like regular rope. But that’s still faster than moving the entire wedge.”

“Good point. This is great stew, Margit.”

The girl ducked her head, but they could see a hint of a smile.

“Anyhow, only Fred can use a helm, and you’re the only one who uses a bow, so no dice tonight, guys. Sam, you need to learn how to use the rope first thing tomorrow, because Derek will need both hands on his new bow.”

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Jeff asked.

“Once Sam is good on the rope I’ll load the bang sticks and we’ll make a loot run from the south side. Further planning will wait until that is done.”

“I’m going back to bed,” Fred announced as he mopped his bowl clean with a piece of bread. “I’ve got to grow back some blood and this dump still beats sleeping on the ground.”

They were up with the dawn to freshly-baked flatbread and reheated ham. “OK, leveling report: I stayed in class, nothing new in charms or runes, but the ones I make from now on will be a little more potent. I put two points into Fast Scabbard since I’m caught up on my admin skills.”

“I went with Shadowmancer, but I picked up composite bow as a specialty, and put two points in Item Lore so I don’t waste power,” Derek announced. “I’m up to four bolts if I don’t use anything else, and they hit harder than they used to.”

“I stuck with class. Took combat skills in fighting Undead and Goblins,” Fred advised.

“Why goblins?” Sam asked.

“You said the route to the tomb is underground,” the barbarian pointed out.