Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Seven - Quarry

“Hey! Here, here!” I shouted, arms and ears waving above my head.

The amphiptere switched its attention from Bastion and stared at me. It wasn’t happy. In fact, it was very clearly growing less and less happy as the minutes went by and the fight dragged on. I could understand it. Bastion had been a very elusive target, and even as it moved the soldiers behind it kept poking and cutting at its tail.

We had to keep it distracted though. Twice already the amphiptere had stopped going after Bastion in order to snap and spit at the soldiers behind it, and I’d seen a few of them get hit with droplets of acidic spittle before their shields went up.

They’d be fine, I thought. Some sylphs were there to escort the injured to the medics’ tent, and I was pretty sure that the sylphs--who I’d been repeatedly told were the best at medicine--could take care of their own in a hurry.

Still, that meant fewer fighters on the field.

So I was bouncing and calling out, trying to distract the monster as best I could so that it would leave the army alone and continue its slow slither towards the old quarry.

So far, things were going well. Other than a few close calls, Bastion and I were doing good work keeping it moving.

Bastion was able to cut and poke at it whenever it came too close. He seemed to be aiming for the eyes, which really annoyed the monster.

I didn’t have his skills with a sword... or a sword for that matter. So whenever I could, I flung some Cleaning magic at the monster’s eyes and into its open mouth. I bet it didn’t like having a dry mouth any more than anyone else.

“We’re nearly there,” Bastion called out.

I glanced back. There was a small line of trees atop a rise in the landscape, one that was too small to be called a proper hill. The molefolk mages were hiding a little ways from there, using the trees as cover even if most of them weren’t much thicker than a closed fist.

Past the bump was a wooden fence, and beyond that, the drop.

“Broccoli!”

I gasped as a shadow fell above me, then I launched myself to the side and crashed on the ground belly first, avoiding the amphiptere slithering over where I would have been.

“No distractions!” Bastion called out.

“Right!” I shouted back as I rolled over and bounced to my feet. No one wanted a squished bun, least of all the bun in question. I had to be careful while taunting the giant high-level dragon-snake.

Bastion launched an attack at the amphiptere’s face. Wide sweeping slices that had the creature flinching back. It twitched to the side, then spat out a gout of acidic spittle that utterly failed to hit Bastion.

“Nearly there!” I said as I bounced up and grabbed a hold of the amphiptere’s side. Its big scales had gaps between them, some more than wide enough to grab hold of. There was a lot of dirt and detritus stuck in there. The poor thing probably didn’t clean itself all that often.

Climbing up its side proved tough but doable, and in the end, I think it was worth it, especially when I was hanging off its side, within easy reach of the monster’s head. I flung a few balls of Cleaning magic towards its eyes, making it flinch back until it could blink them a few times.

Then its large, slitted eye turned and narrowed as it focused on me.

“Uh oh,” I muttered.

The entire creature rolled onto its side, head whipping down.

It was only a lucky jump that allowed me to fling myself off of it before it squished me flat. Still, the impact of its head on the ground made the entire area bounce. Trees lost leaves and pebbles skipped down the side of the old quarry.

“Move back,” Bastion said. There was iron in his words; he wasn’t joking around any more. A glance around showed why. We were right on the edge of the quarry. We’d made it.

I nodded, beelining for the little patch of roots where the mole people mages were hiding while Bastion distracted the monster again.

“Well done,” the same lieutenant I’d spoken to earlier said.

“Thanks,” I replied before stumbling over to a boulder. I sat myself down and let out a long breath. My heart was flitting around my chest like a hummingbird, so it was nice to sit back for a breather. “Will you be able to bring it down?” I asked.

“Oh, we’ll manage just fine,” the lieutenant said.

I watched as the mages spread out. With the sylph soldiers forming a front line before the mages, the amphiptere was being hemmed in against the long drop into the quarry.

It would be a terrible drop for a person. More than enough to make it lethal, but then, the amphiptere was pretty big. The drop was only half as deep as it was long. I hoped that would be enough.

Bastion flashed through the sky like a brilliant dart, leaving a single long cut along the monster’s face. “Now!” he roared.

“Now, now, now!” the lieutenant shouted.

All across the line of mages, mole people dropped to their knees, then brought their closed fists down and smacked the ground.

After a moment, everything trembled, and I gasped as the earth surged out ahead of the mages.

The soldiers before them stumbled, their formation breaking, but the initial wave was nothing compared to what was happening nearer the edge. As each earthen wave bumped into the next, the world buckled, and the ground cracked with a snap like an ice sheet coming apart in a nature documentary.

The amphiptere paused, and I saw something like confusion flash in its eyes before the entire cliffside dropped.

At first it was only a small drop. The crack running around the edge of the quarry widened, and everything held still.

It felt like watching a coin land on its side while spinning. It was holding for now, but there was this immense sense of impending disaster, as if the entire world knew that things were about to go horribly wrong all at once.

A noise like a cannon going off echoed across the valley. The ground rumbled. Atop it, the amphiptere spun around on itself and rushed away from the edge.

I heard Commander Warmwood shout something, and his troops formed a wall, shields up and magic glowing. Those in the rearmost rows pressed up against the soldiers before them, and they raised a spiked barrier, spears jutting towards the amphiptere.

It rammed into the formation, a creature that had to outweigh the gathered soldiers a hundred times over, moving as quickly as it could, heedless of the spears biting into it.

And yet, somehow, the formation held. I heard the soldiers shouting with exertion, and I could almost see the magic snapping at the air as they burned what had to be thousands of points to resist the monster’s advance.

It was at once terrifying and awesome.

And, most important of all, it worked.

The ground fell. The entire edge of the quarry gave up with a huge roar, millions of tonnes of stone crashing down into the pit. The noise was so chaotic and loud that I winced and tugged my bun ears down over the sides of my head to protect them.

The amphiptere hung onto the edge, and then the soldiers not keeping it at bay attacked it. Spears were thrown like javelins and dozens of fireballs pelted it from every direction.

The snake hissed, terror mixing with rage.

It tumbled back, its long sinuous form writhing even as its wings spread wide, but that didn’t help it at all.

It screeched, the sound loud and piercing, and stronger even than the rumble of the world falling apart.

The scaffolding along the edges of the quarry were torn apart in the fall, and then, with a final thud that sent a ripple through the grund, the amphiptere hit the bottom.

The snake screamed in pain as sharp edged stones dug into and through its scaly hide, but the scream was drowned out by the rumble of cascading rocks as missing supports failed to keep back sections of crumbling wall.

Gradually, the rocks settled and the echoes receded until I could here myself think again. A huge plume of dust poured out of the quarry, thick and gray.

The wind turned, sending the wall of dust falling across all of the soldiers and mages on the sidelines. I pushed some of my mana into my Cleaning aura, keeping the worst of it off of me and letting me see what was going on a little better.

Some of the soldiers around Commander Warmwood seemed injured. They hobbled back, supporting each other even as others ran in to fill in the gaps in the line. The Inquisition soldiers rushed over, some of them using what looked like wind magic to clear the air, and right behind them were the rest of the mole people warriors.

I noticed Bastion moving to the edge of the new cliffside and went to join him. “Is it done?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “It’s still alive. Though that did injure it. It isn’t quite pinned, and I suspect it will be able to move out of the quarry relatively easily if we don’t act to keep it down there.”

“We’re going to go down to fight it?” I asked.

Bastion shook his head. “No. We have the advantage of height. It won’t be glorious or honourable, but this might be the most effective way to fight the amphiptere without anyone getting injured.”

“Oh,” I said.

Bastion called for General Holey and Commander Warmwood, and soon Major Springsong joined us on the edge of the quarry.

I glanced over the edge and saw the amphiptere shake itself out from a pile of stones and dirt, then twist around to right itself. It was in a rough state, the fall having damaged it more than any of the fighting so far.

Then the mole people mages moved to the edge of the quarry and started to pelt the monster with Broccoli-sized rocks. It dodged a few, but there were so many that it was still hit. When the soldiers reached the edge and tossed fireballs down as well, things only got worse for the monster.

A cart pulled by a pair of donkeys pulled up nearby, a couple of Inquisition soldiers riding at the back. They unloaded boxes filled with bows and barrels filled with arrows. Lines formed, and those soldiers that looked like they were running out of mana grabbed bows and some arrows, then moved to the edge.

I think the arrows were enchanted with something—they glowed when fired, and some of them hit with loud bangs, while others buried themselves deep into the amphiptere’s side, rather like the spears of the molefolk..

The monster spat acid up at those gathered above it, but other than burning a volley of arrows out of the air, it wasn’t able to reach the very top.

I kind of felt bad. It was inherently unfair to fight something that way. Then again, the soldiers weren’t joking or making light of the situation. They were taking this seriously, as if the monster below could still turn around and become a genuine threat.

That never happened.

Eventually the amphiptere keeled over, the fight beaten out of it.

The number of arrows and stones and magic pouring into it increased temporarily increased, then Commander Warmwood called everything to a halt. “Paladin Coldfront, would you finish it?”

Bastion nodded. “Give me a moment,” he said.

When Bastion jumped down the side of the cliff and started to skid down, I hesitated, then I followed him.

I slipped and slid on the loose rock of the cliff, and I had to waggle my arms to keep my balance until I caught up with Bastion near the bottom. He looked at me, then nodded.

Carefully, we moved over to the monster.

It was still breathing, though only barely.

It stared at me, anger plain in its bruised eye. “I’m sorry,” I said as I reached out to pat it.

Bastion pulled his sword out of its sheath without any fanfare, then he pressed the end of the blade near the base of the amphiptere’s neck. “Well fought,” he said.

A cheer rose up from the top of the quarry as the battle came to a close.

***