Chapter 382

Even before Arran reached the village’s opened gates, he was hit by an overwhelming stench, strong enough that he almost stopped in his tracks .

He’d fought enough battles to recognize the foul smell immediately . It was the smell of death, and if it was this strong even here, he could scarcely imagine what horrors they would find behind the walls .

Yet there was no choice but to continue . There were two hundred Blightspawn barely two miles away, and the village’s tall walls offered the only protection they would find for miles around .

That protection hadn’t been enough to save the villagers, but there was no other choice . Outrunning the Blightspawn would have been a tall order for the mercenaries on the best of days, and with the number of wounded they carried, it was utterly impossible .

Short of leaving the wounded behind, their only option was to seek shelter . And disastrous though the battle had been, leaving the wounded was a step Arran was unwilling to make .

When he stepped through the gates, he saw at once what caused the unbearable stench that filled the area . And the sight of it filled him with shock .

At the center of the village square lay a massive pile of mutilated corpses, large enough that it almost resembled a small hill . There were thousands of bodies, mangled beyond recognition, the pile that held them a tangled mess of blood and broken limbs .

Arran knew at once that these weren’t just villagers . There were far more bodies than a village this size would hold . That could only mean the Blightspawn had been here for days, perhaps even weeks, massacring all soldiers and traders who passed .

He stared at the pile of bodies for several moments before his daze was pierced by the captain’s voice .

“Take the wounded to the temple!” Kaleesh shouted . “The rest of you, close the gates and man the walls!”

Arran tore his eyes away from the mound of bodies, then hurried to a large building at the side of the village square that he knew must be the temple .

When he stepped into the building, he saw that the main hall was filled with rubble — the remains of the Darian gods’ statues, which the Blightspawn must have smashed .

He paid the broken statues no mind . Though Darians might have been outraged at the sight, Arran’s only thoughts were of his wounded allies and the horde of monsters that still threatened them .

Carefully, he laid down the wounded mercenary he’d carried into the village . And as he did, he realized it was the lone borderlander who’d chosen to join them instead of accepting Rannoc’s offer .

“Thank you,” the youth said weakly, forcing a small smile to appear on his pale face . “I’d be dead without you . We’d all be . “

Arran quickly looked over the young man’s wounds, and was relieved to see that none seemed fatal . While the injuries were serious, they would heal with time .

But then, time was exactly what they lacked .

“I have to go check the gates,” he said to the borderlander . “You stay here, and don’t move too much . The others will take care of you . “

There were several mercenaries already caring for the wounded troops who’d been brought into the temple, and Arran knew he could not linger . If the Blightspawn attacked, only he and the captain had a chance of repelling them .

He hurried back outside without waiting for a reply, then quickly climbed the wall, where he found Kaleesh staring at the Blightspawn in the distance .

“They’re not moving,” the captain said as Arran approached . “I suppose they’ll wait for nightfall before they attack . “

“Then we have a few hours to prepare,” Arran replied .

“For all the good that’ll do . ” Kaleesh shook his head in frustration, and continued in a harsh voice, “This should not have happened . “

“But it did,” Arran said . “Things rarely—”

“You don’t understand,” Kaleesh interrupted him, his voice trembling with anger . “While you were wasting your time on Raina’s daughter, I found out all I could about the Blight . They’ve never attacked east of Knight’s Watch, and even in the Desolation, their groups never count more than one or two dozen . This—”

He took a deep breath, and the anger in his eyes faded . “This shouldn’t have happened,” he said again, though his voice was weary now . “We’ve lost twelve men, and half as much again won’t make it to the morning — if we even last that long . “

“We’ll think about that later,” Arran said . “Right now, we should search the village . I don’t think any Blightspawn remain, but we have to check . And we’ll have to find out how they got inside . “

“You’re right,” Kaleesh said . “But first, take care of your wounds . If they attack, we’ll need your strength . “

“My wounds?” Arran looked at him in wonder . “I don’t have any—”

He stopped talking mid-sentence, as he realized that there were several wounds on his body . And although they were already healing, the carnage of battle should have provided the Blood Ruin with enough fuel to have healed even the most serious wounds instantly .

And yet, that hadn’t happened .

“Just take care,” Kaleesh said . “You’re strong, but you’re not immortal . “

Without any further words, he set off to search the village .

Arran remained standing in silence for several moments, only now realizing that the Blood Ruin seemed far weaker than it should be . Hundreds of deaths should have him reeling with power, but instead, what he felt was only a sliver of that .

The power was more than he would have gained from his allies’ deaths, but far less than he should have seized from the Blightspawn that died .

Briefly, he worried whether there was something wrong with the Blood Ruin — whether it had weakened somehow . If so, it would be a disaster .

Yet before he could even finish the thought, he recalled that something else had been different, as well . In the heat of battle there had been no time to consider it, but now, he realized that he had only barely Sensed the Blightspawn as he was fighting them .

He had clearly Sensed their magic when they used it, but other than that, it was as if they were shades, their figures somehow weak and blurry to his Sense .

But they hadn’t concealed themselves with Shadow magic, of that he was certain . Had they done so, he would have known instantly .

Moreover, they weren’t hidden from his Sense, exactly . Rather, it was like Sensing creatures that were only partly alive, their presence far weaker than their strength suggested .

He sighed, then quickly set off to scour the village for any hidden Blightspawn . If nothing else, at least he now knew what to search for .

The village was small enough that it took Arran and the captain less than half an hour to search every single inch of it . But no Blightspawn remained, and Arran found no gaps in the walls or tunnels into the village .

What he did find were numerous weapons and a massive cache of supplies, all discarded like trash . Among the weapons were several starmetal swords, likely taken from Rangers who’d died to the trap . But why the Blightspawn had thrown them aside, he did not know .

And either way, it made no difference . Right now, what the Wolfsblood Company lacked most were numbers, not weapons .

When he met Kaleesh again atop the wall that overlooked the Blightspawn, the captain cursed in frustration . “Nothing,” he spat . “Not even the slightest crack in the defenses, nor any sign that the walls were stormed . I can’t see how they got inside . “

“They must have entered before the villagers could close the gate,” Arran said . It was the only explanation . The walls were high enough that if the Blightspawn had stormed them, there would have been signs of battle .

Yet Kaleesh shook his head . “You’ve seen how these villages are . The guards never take their eyes off the gates, and the area around the village is completely clear . A group of Blightspawn couldn’t have reached the gates before they were closed . Unless—”

“There was only one,” Arran said, knowing he’d just had the same thought as the captain . “One fast enough to get inside, and strong enough to defeat the guards alone . “

“A Reaver . ” Kaleesh spat on the ground, then let out another loud curse . “If there’s a Reaver with that group…”

“Then the situation is worse than we thought . ” Arran was unable to keep himself from sighing deeply . “And it wasn’t good to begin with . Lady Raina said strong Reavers can match Knights, so both of us would be needed to hold it off . “

“Which would leave two hundred Blightspawn to slaughter the troops . ” Kaleesh cast a long look at the Blightspawn in the distance, then shook his head . “I have nothing . The walls will help us hold them off, but we are too few to mount a proper defense . “

“Get some rest,” Arran said . “We still have a few hours before the sun sets . Perhaps you’ll think of a plan once you clear your mind . “

Arran knew Kaleesh well enough to know how heavily the deaths of his men would weigh upon his mind . But right now, the mercenaries needed their captain to find a strategy . If he lingered on the disastrous battle, a second disaster might well follow it .

The captain looked as if he was about to object, but after a moment’s hesitation, he nodded . “I’ll go check on the wounded, first . After that, I’ll try to rest for a few hours . “

As Kaleesh made his way to the temple, Arran turned his attention to the Blightspawn in the distance .

So far, they had shown no sign of moving, much less attacking . Most likely, the captain was right — they planned to attack after sunset, when the night would help them cross the walls unseen .

If the Blightspawn charged in force, it would be all but impossible for the mercenaries to hold them all back . And if just one or two made it past the walls, opening the gate would be a simple matter .

Arran could head out by himself and confront their enemies, of course . Doing so would mean he didn’t have to worry about the mercenaries, which would be no small advantage .

Yet there might be a Reaver among the Blightspawn, and if Reavers were as strong as Knights, then his chances of victory would be poor at best . And worse, it appeared his Blood Ruin only barely benefited from the Blightspawn he killed .

Still, the more he thought about it, the more he became convinced that something was amiss — that the creatures’ strange resistance to his powers was no coincidence .

He was convinced that when the creature in the cavern had spoken of its brothers — the ones whose powers Arran supposedly carried — it had spoken of the Darian gods . If that was the case, there would be Darians who shared such powers .

The church, after all, granted gods’ bloodlines to Darians warriors who earned them .

Moreover, Arran knew that Knights, Lords, and Archons all possessed Living Shadow weapons . And although he didn’t know how strong a bond they shared with their weapons, he knew they could use their Sense at least to some extent .

He’d witnessed this himself when he first arrived in the Imperium and an Archon effortlessly Sensed his starmetal ring .

That the Blightspawn resisted both these powers could not be a simple matter of chance . They weren’t natural creatures — they were humans, deliberately twisted into monsters through foul magics .

If the Blightspawn perfectly countered powers the Darians’ greatest fighters possessed, it would be by design, not by chance . Their creator had created them to resist the Darians, and in doing so, he’d also created creatures that could threaten Arran .

Yet Arran wasn’t a Darian .

Though he shared many of the Darians’ strengths, he also had something the Imperium lacked — magic . And if the Blightspawn had been created to fight Darians, then perhaps magic would be a more effective tool in defeating them .

It took only moments before an idea formed in his head, and soon, a grim smile appeared on his face . His plan would be risky, but no more so than waiting for the Blightspawn to attack .