Chapter 1.25

Karson

We got the slave wagon moved out of the way from where it blocked the alley. It was a simple matter of having the horses back up a little, then turn to get to the side. Zahra swiftly cut their traces loose, and we formed up into a tight block. People were starting to fill the alley, cutting through to buildings to find places to hide. Men carrying random baskets or boxes of goods they considered valuable or escorting their families, women carrying children or dragging them along by the hand, even the odd militiaman running to fulfill some errand or another. All around was the sound of panic and fear, cries and screams.

At the end of the alley, the road was even worse. People were running in all directions. Dozens were trying to dig people out of the collapsed house that the boulder had smashed. I could see the offending rock, partly embedded in the courtyard before the Megaron, dozens of yards away. Most were running or trying to run, a few were dirty and bloodied, either by the initial chaos and press of the crowds or injuries from the boulder crushing its way through town.

Another boulder flew through the air even as we stood staring at the chaos from the mouth of the alley. This one struck the Megaron directly, smashing out most of a wall and making the building sag dangerously. Above I heard a sound that I hoped to never hear again. It was the shrill cackles of harpies. I looked up to see easily a dozen circling, and even more coming in from the direction of the main gates. “Man flesh!” they cried.

We began to edge our way down the road, our drawn weapons and armor intimidating the townsfolk into giving us as wide a berth as they could manage. They passed close to us, the number of people and the insanity of the street pressing people closer and closer to us the more we approached the marketplace. But that was nothing compared to what we encountered at the market.

The crowd was pressed shoulder to shoulder in the market, screams and shouting never ending as people jostled to get from where they were to where they thought they could find refuge. Wagons were overturned, stalls were in ruins, and nothing had even attacked here yet. A panicked horse broke free of an overturned wagon and bolted through the middle of the crowd, leaving a trail of dead and injured in its wake.

After twenty minutes of slowly forcing our way along the edge of the crowd, we had still made next to no progress. Every time a person escaped the madness, another two would join, and we were no exception.

“Hold here!” I shouted at Zahra, who tapped the shoulders of my Vanguard. They halted, and with a few hand signals, our little column halted as well. I blinked up to the roof of the tallest building I could find. I looked down to see the streets were utter madness, all the way to both gates. To my surprise, I realized the front gate was actually a double gate, with a killing field behind the gate I’d seen before. Militiamen were arrayed outside, with the gate open just enough for a rapid retreat. Another company of militia was staged inside, and dozens of archers lined the walls. As compared to the other side of town, this side actually had walkways along the inside of the wooden wall, with barrels of arrows at the ready. The archers were in groups of six, two watching the enemy army while four watched the skies with bows at the ready to fend off harpies. No one patrolled the wall alone, making me feel conspicuously alone up here. I looked around for harpies, but none seemed to have noticed me yet.

The enemy army was almost to the gates. Arrows from the jackal-headed archers was already falling on the militia, while the archers on the walls fired down into the gigantes’ formation. The massive Titan was even larger up close, and he was half a town away. I was on top a rickety three-story building, and I doubted I would be any higher than his waist if he stood next to me. The Titan carried a truck-sized boulder under each arm, and had a club strapped across his back.

I looked back down at the streets. There was no way we could get through there. I could see our group in front of a building, crowded in front of a closed door, with Zahra and the freed slaves against the building. Exadius, Jin Song, Jin Hai and the Vanguard stood in front of them, swords out and keeping the crowd at bay. I had an idea.

A second later I blinked to the roof of the building they were on. There wasn’t an easy staircase down. I looked to the next building that was heading in the direction we needed. As far as I could tell, the close-packed buildings of the poor section of town were close enough that we could hop from roof to roof, all the way to the wall. I walked around the edge until I found a steep ladder going down.

I clambered down as quickly as I could, and stepped through a large window into someone’s living space. Clang! I stumbled to the side, something hard having struck my helmet. The blow wasn’t hard, nor did it hurt much thanks to the helmet. I looked around quickly to see an old woman carrying a dented bronze pan, holding it out in front of her like a sword. I quickly held my hands up.

“I’m not here to hurt you, I’m just passing through,” I said. I fumbled in my purse and held up a gold drachma. “Here, to pay you.”

“For what?” she said, eyeing the drachma. “My friends and I need to pass back through to get to the roof.”

“That’s it? You don’t want to hide and eat my food?”

“That’s it. We’ll be out of your way in five minutes.”

The old woman considered it for a minute, then lowered her pan. “Be quick. I don’t want to unbar my door for long.”

I flipped her the coin, which she snatched out of the air with a dexterity that belied her apparent age. Money wins again. The next room over had a door with a large chair in front of it. I slid the chair aside and slipped out into the hallway. Two quick flights of stairs down and I was unbarring the front door to the street.

“Quick, through here!” I shouted to Zahra and the escaped slaves. They retreated into the building, my Vanguard being the last through the door. I slammed the door shut and barred it again before the crowd could try and surge into the building. “All the way to the top floor, hurry!”

The old lady was true to her word, she didn’t lock us out. I think her eyes got huge at the number of people going through her apartment and out her window. I shut her door and moved the chair back in front of it. I held out another gold drachma.

“Thank you for dealing honestly with me,” I said. She took the coin and mumbled something, but I didn’t stick around to talk. I climbed out and followed my people up the ladder.

“So now we’re trapped on a roof instead of the street?” said Zahra skeptically. She glowed with power for a brief second. “Oh! That’s brilliant!”

Above, I could hear new cries of alarm from the harpies. I looked up to see dozens swarming around the city. They were dive bombing at the people trapped in the streets, and whenever they could get away with it, two or more would mob a single person to lift them high into the sky. I saw three different people plummet to their deaths like this. Occasionally a harpy would fall from the sky, transfixed by an arrow from the archers on the walls.

“Zahra, keep your bow ready! Vanguard, watch the skies!” I shouted. It was much easier to be heard up here. “We’re jumping across rooftops to get to the wall!”

We worked our way across several buildings without incident. Several were like the one we were on - empty and flat with no easy way to access the top. Most, however, were piled with junk. Crates with odds and ends, broken barrels, old furniture, and some even had makeshift canvas tents with cowering refugees. They eyed us in terrified silence as we passed by, afraid to speak and to scared to follow.

Then we came to a building that butted directly against the next, but the next building was six feet higher. Two of my Vanguard leapt easily to the top. A harpy dove at them, hoping to catch them flat-footed after their jump. The woman Vanguard snatched the bird by one foot and smashed it to the rooftop. I could hear the snap from the harpy’s skull as it slammed into the wooden roof. She casually tossed the dead monster aside.

“That was impressive,” said Exadius. “But how are the rest of us getting up there?”

The other two Vanguard had it figured out, though. They grabbed each person at the waist and lifted them overhead, and the two on the next roof reached down and grabbed the person at the wrist to pull them up the rest of the way. It went so swiftly, in fact, that it took no time at all to get everyone up. I blinked myself up after everyone else had been assisted, and the last two Vanguard jumped up on their own.

This building was fairly long, and by the end of it, I looked down to see we’d made it halfway down the street. We had to stop three times to fend off harpies, killing two more of the monsters as we moved. It seemed as though the harpies preferred easy prey, as only a couple circled above us now. The bulk of them seemed content to attack the helpless townsfolk and refugees still trapped in the streets.

I looked back to the main gate to see it was completely smashed open. The inner gate was still closed, and archers were clustered around the killing field firing arrows down as swiftly as they could draw their bows back. Then I saw the Titan rearing back to throw another boulder. Was this the first or the second he had been carrying? I didn’t know.

The boulder flew from his hands and angled in our direction. It crushed through two buildings before bouncing and landing on the roof of a third low building. The entire structure groaned under the added load. Seconds later, it imploded in on itself and the rock vanished as gravity dragged it through the doomed building.

The Titan drew its club. No, I had to correct myself. It was a tree trunk. The Titan was using an entire tree as his club, and not a small one, either. The end of the tree-sized club was bound in iron. The monstrous being slammed the tree into the wall, and the wall was giving way. Already I could see gigantes climbing over the walls on either side of the gates. Several were already on the walkway, charging at the archers on top. They weren’t getting far; the archers were holding the wall well. The six-man teams of archers was making more sense now. They were defending the walkway against climbers as well as against harpies.

“Where’s the next roof?” I called, and we began to run. This town was doomed. At the end of the building, the next roof was easily a dozen feet down - to high to repeat our previous trick for getting up here. The alleyway between them was narrow. I laid down and peered over. There was a window in line with the roof.

“Find a way down!” I shouted. “We can cross one floor down!”

“Over here!” shouted Jin Hai from the back side of the building. There was an easy stairway down. We raced down the steps and bashed through the door. It was a hallway lined with doors. I ran down to the end facing the alley, but there was no window in the hallway. I knocked hard against the last apartment door.

“Go away!” shouted a man’s voice. “I’ve got a sword, I’m not afraid to use it!”

“We need to use your window! I can pay!” I shouted.

The door cracked open to reveal a young man with a long dagger in his hand, but he didn’t move out of the way.

“Why do you need my window? Are you trying to escape the town?”

“That’s the plan,” I said.

“I don’t want your money,” he said. “Bring us with you.”

I turned and raised an eyebrow at Zahra to get her opinion. “A few more hurts nothing.”

“Deal,” I said swiftly. “Gather only what you can run with.”

The man stepped back and opened the door wide. We filed swiftly into the small apartment. The man was dressed in a simple chiton. Behind him was a woman in an equally plain peplos stood with a small girl clutched in her arms. The girl couldn’t have been more than two or three years old. The toddler stared at me with wide eyes, curly blond locks around her olive skin. They had few belongings, mostly clothes and bedding.

“I have a spare bag,” offered Zahra, pulling out an enchanted bag. Seriously, did everyone carry extra bags when they went with me places?

The young man took it tentatively.

“It’s magic,” she explained. “It holds far more than it appears.”

He nodded, slightly awed. But it spurred him into motion, and his wife as well. They pulled up a loose floorboard and pulled out a money pouch, before stuffing the bag with clothes, bedding, and food. I spotted a small cloth doll laying forgotten on the floor. I picked it up and held it out to the child. She snatched it from my hands and hugged it tightly.

“Thank you, milord,” said the woman.

“We’re ready,” said the man. He held a length of rope in his hands. “I was trying to figure out how to escape through the window before you arrived.”

I took the rope and tied off one end to a sturdy looking beam that lay exposed in the wall. After applying my weight to it, I was satisfied that it would hold.

“I’ll take that, milord,” said one of the Vanguard. He clambered out the window and leapt easily to the other roof, which was only a few feet up. After a moment, he climbed back down.

“It’s secure on the other end. If we tie it off again over here, we can have another handhold for the climb.”

Once again, my Vanguard acted as the safety for everyone else to cross. Zahra and her bodyguards went across first, using the lower rope to walk on and the upper rope as a handhold. Two Vanguard hung out the window, using one hand and one foot to stay in place, while helping to brace everyone as they crossed. Hanging from the other side was the other two Vanguard, laying flat on the roof with arms outstretched. Those two wedged their fingers between boards on the roof, relying only on their immense strength to aid everyone else.

A crash from the road could be heard, in the direction of the other gate that we needed to pass through. It sounded like the second boulder had been thrown. More lives had been senselessly lost. One by one, we made our precarious way over the thirty foot drop, until I lost my patience. I blinked over to the other roof and stood at the edge next to one of my Vanguard. The last of the freed slaves had made its way across, followed by the woman. Last of all was the man carrying his little daughter.

An explosive crash rocked the building we were escaping from, making the rope wobble dangerously. It appeared the Titan had a third rock, after all. The man began to lose his balance, his grip on the upper rope lost. In a fraction of an instant, I saw what was happening. The little child was slipping from his grip even as Vanguards from both sides of the alley reached out to help the man. In one instant of horror, everyone saw the child slip, but none could grab her.

Without thought, I dove and grabbed the child from the air. I curled her up to my chest as I twisted through the air and the ground rushed up to reach me. I had no time to cast a blink spell. No time to do anything except twist so that I cushioned the girl when we landed. No time...