“Hurry up and wait takes on a new meaning, when we’re waiting to be attacked.”

The fighting outside the walls had been going on for a little while now. Frank wasn’t the best at reading the sound signals going around town, but Lilijah kept them updated.

“They’re pressing in from the northeast, below.”

While the nearest breaches in the walls and the skirmishers near them hadn’t come under serious attack yet, all the Hunters had had a chance to use their bows. Deli had even fired her sling. Their efforts were keeping the dead welling up from underground off the rooftops, but it meant Frank had no idea how many of them there were in total.

The darkness was thick, with only nearby and distant torchlight to help him see. He had his lightstone, and in turn, Lilijah kept her distance from them all, to preserve her night vision.

“It must be helping, because half the time I can’t see what she’s shooting at.”

Snow Shades kept distracting Frank, every time one formed on their roof, but Brar took care of them, for the most part. Sooner or later they’d run out of snow to work with.

So far, they’d seen neither demon nor monster. Just Bones and Snow Shades, here and there.

***

Everything was mostly calm inside the walls, until it wasn’t.

Lilijah wound them up, pointing out the breach in the walls the dead were approaching, then entering through. It was a fair bit away from their part of town. Frank couldn’t see the ground from here. A few torches were hung from the collapsed walls in hard to reach places. They shed enough light to see when four Ice Shades, tall enough for their heads and shoulders to stick above the nearby ruins, stepped into the breach.

There was a whistle, from that side of the lines. Frank couldn’t see what happened, but a distant rumble reached them as all four Ice Shades suddenly disappeared in a massive cloud of snow and dust.

“What was that?” Deli asked. Frank was wondering the same.

“Stoneshift.” Brar and Lilijah answered at the same time. They looked at each other, Lilijah always ready to push the issue. Brar frowned at her, but let her speak.

“The stone Mageling might not be good for much in a fight, but he’s more than a farspeaker.” She explained.

Frank got it then, but didn’t interrupt her.

“He’s a decent trapper. They’ll be more traps, mark my words.”

“But what did he do?” Deli asked, not so much confused, but unsure. All they could see from here was a cloud of dust.

“Dropped them in the tunnels.” Lilijah confirmed what Frank had guessed.

“They’re too big to walk them, and too heavy to climb out.”

“And with the Ice Shades stuck there, we can deal with them later.”

They didn’t have to kill or break all of the dead to remove them from the fighting, even if the dead were far more willing to fight to the destruction of their bodies than most living soldiers.

After all, for most of them, it wasn’t another end, just a setback.

***

Once the dead started pouring into town, probing attacks started. Bones with Miasma tested the defenders up and down the lines. For the most part, they found no lazy watchman to sneak by, or shieldwall so frail it would break under the assault of a single party of Bones.

Or at least, that was Frank’s impression, from what he could see.

The bad news was that more and more fighters were retreating through the main gate, back behind the walls. They were being pushed back. The Hunters on the walls kept firing, though many had switched from bows to slings. Frank could read the implications of that. Stones were plentiful. Arrows were not.

“There’s a lot of them out there.”

That there was still at least a barrel of arrows by each group told him things were still going to plan, or they’d be using those arrows to hold back the tide, secure the retreat.

Frank had spent some of the time waiting plotting out paths, how he could get to the nearest larger avenues. The alleys between homes weren’t wide. Most he could probably jump, even without a staff to help him. Frank had ran the idea past Deli, and she certainly wanted to try it. While he could just throw a blast when called on, being mobile would not only increase his range, but allow him to place them with precision, from an overlooking position.

He didn’t have to wait long. The fighting slowly got closer, skirmishers falling back as they ground down the enemy advance with stones and traps. A party of Hunters in dark furs suddenly popped up four roofs over, and ran for it. Three Bones came up behind them, but were driven back quickly by a small rain of stones. The hunters ran over the rooftops, leaping over gaps, running through the avenue. They jumped up to waiting hands, passing back behind the defensive line.

His party and Frank were on a roof just over and behind one such line, in a place where an avenue ran East/West. The alleys leading into their southern part of town were all blocked, by barricades, or shieldwalls. Three or four breaths behind the Hunters, a wave of Bones came out of the dark alleys and crashed into their fortifications. Not a living wave, but everywhere Frank looked, in groups of two to four, Bones were scratching at barricades, or being lured into the tight alleys and broken by shield and axe. Some tried to climb, but Axe Breakers were waiting for them with their reach, taking heads, cutting off hands.

“Do you think these are from beneath the town, or from the Dead Court?” Frank asked, as Brar greeted another Bones climbing up by pinning it against the rooftop with his shield and hacking at its spine. It only took three blows to sever it. He threw the top half of the broken Bones on the other side of the barricade, for burning after the battle.

Deli looked around, considering. Lilijah didn’t hesitate:

“This’ll be the ones from below. You can tell, with how they’re scrambling around like lost chicks.”

Not how Frank would have put it, but he got what she meant.

“When the regulars with Skeletons arrive, they’ll be smarter.”

“Good to know this is the easy part.”

Some part of Frank wanted to jump down there and start laying into them, but he knew better. Just because this wave was scattered groups of Bones, didn’t meant something much nastier wasn’t waiting in the wings.

Ready to jump on any fool who broke the lines and got baited into an ambush.

***

What the Bones did prove useful for, was testing his Mage Staff Skill. Or at least, Frank was guessing that was what was doing this. He’d dispatched a Bones or two himself, and with every swing felt like something was missing. On the third, he’d ran the tiny speck of magic he now had through the staff as he swung and there’d been a reaction.

A bad one. He got a nasty headache, but only for a breath or two. Something about what he was doing was either right, or terribly wrong. Or both. “It’s usable data for a previously unknown event. Now I need more.”

Frank had asked his party to cover him, and started doing some breathing exercises. He focused on the staff. Swung it, experimentally. Nothing happened when Frank hit snow, or the stone of the roof.

But something was going on inside that piece of wood. It was like a pulse, or a reflection of his heartbeat. Something like that. If he tried, Frank could push and pull on that beat, make the sound build or wane, with his speck of magic, with the candle flame.

He was interacting with something in the staff, stirring it up.

The next time Frank tried it, he took a full breath to build up the energy, up to what felt like a hard limit. Holding it there immediately gave him another nasty headache and stuttered the beat, dropping it.

Next time, Frank waited for the right moment, and used the built up charge on a Snow Shade. The staff released a small burst of green light into the Shade. It didn’t so much fall, as it was blasted apart.

“This has really tight timing. Building that pulse to a crescendo takes a while, most of a breath. Almost a third of a minute, approximately. And I can’t slow it down, or speed the process up, much. Maybe a little.” He’d seen what happened if he hit something when it wasn’t fully charged, or if he let his focus waver. Both gave him a nasty headache, one that would clear up over the next breath.

“If I want to use this, I need to get my timings down pat.”

Frank wasn’t sure the extra oomph was worth it, not now that he had Strength three back. He could do more damage just by hitting a Bones repeatedly. Instead of building up his +1 Staff of Life smiting, or whatever this was.

Having an essentially zero mana cost magical attack was neat, however. For all kinds of possible magical experiments. “I might be able to use this to open a fight. Just have to make sure I don’t miss.”

***

The last warriors had pulled back behind the walls, and the gates were closed after them. Not with wood, no, instead a slab of solid stone had risen to seal the wall shut. Frank wondered how long it took to set that seal up, for he hadn’t heard a thing about the Reclaimers being able to close the door in such a permanent fashion.

It made Frank wonder why the other breaches in the walls weren’t sealed by now.

Attacks on the inside were intensifying, as more dead came into town. Now, instead of a few teams, probing attacks were made in force.

With Bones in large groups (16-20) trying to climb this or that roof, or pull people down into the alleys.

In some places, they tried the shield walls too, but with limited space, and being pelted with stones from above, the dead got nowhere. So far, Frank hadn’t been called on. He had started skirmishing a bit to fill the time and reduce their numbers. Jumping roofs with Lilijah, while Deli and Brar supported them with slings.

Deli, to save her stamina. Brar, because he was afraid of heights and not Agile or graceful.

They’d jump a gap, hit the Bones climbing on a roof or two over, and roam back. Hunters, Scouts and Axe Breakers were doing the same all over the line.

Most of the time, the Bones simply slipped back down, rather than risk a fight. But here and there, some were stubborn, desperate, or driven enough to try fighting them.

That had been a losing proposition before Frank got Agility and Strength three back. With them, he was breaking ribs, skulls and spines faster than ever.

Lilijah was no slouch either. What she lacked in Strength, she made up for in Skill and with better weapons. Frank found it hard to try and time the pulses of his Mage Staff, and gave up on trying to land one in battle after the fourth splitting headache they gave him.

Trying it only as an opening move was the only practical way to deliver the attack, and even then, it failed about half the time.

“But when I do land one, they just fall apart.”

Whatever the green energy was, and Frank suspected it was nature, or life aligned, “maybe Endurance”, it did not like the dead. The green light made their very bones brittle and frail. One well timed blow was enough to shatter a Bones to bits, if Frank could land the strike perfectly.

Even a glancing blow would severely weaken and stagger a Bones, making the dead easy to finish off.

The easy fights didn’t last. There was a series of bird calls to their side, and Lilijah snapped to look in that direction. “Frank, press!”

Short for “being pressed” when a shield wall was losing ground, or the related “they’re all pressed together” to push on said shield wall. Frank ran after Lilijah towards a group of Hunters throwing large rocks down into a street. It was far too wide to jump. Well, for Frank. “Deli could probably do it.”

What mattered was that when he looked down he found a shieldwall, ten-twelve wide and two deep, buckling under a press of Bones that must have approached with care. Frank hadn’t seen any sign of a mass this big getting close. He couldn’t catch more than a glimpse of the Skeleton buried in the mass of Bones and Miasma, but Frank didn’t need to know exactly where it was. Taking up his staff with both hands, he formed a shell of fire through it, near the tip. Then, seeing how large the group was, he put a second mote of mana in it.

As if his staff was a sling, he threw the shell into the middle of the mass of Bones. As it flew, the shell left a green and red trail in the air.

Frank was looking, waiting for the blast when something hit him in the chest, hard, forcing him a step back.

Against the backdrop of the shell blowing up and cooking tens of Bones to death, Frank peered down at the black line sprouting from his chest. Then the pain hit.

Lilijah crashed into him, sending him crashing to the rooftop, just in time for another black blur to whip by his falling face. “Marksman!” She warned.

“Oh. I’ve been shot.” Frank thought, somewhat surprised. He didn’t know they had archers. Lilijah reached over and ripped the arrow from his chest, which hurt all over again.

There was a bit of blood, and the wound burned somewhat, but nothing terrible, not much. Checking his state, Frank winced.

Health = 39/50

Mana = 5

“That took 11 Health.” He said in disbelief.

“It took 11 through your armor, and with me removing the venom before it could get worse.” Lilijah growled at him. “You have a shield, use it.” She rolled off him and sprang up to her feet.

Which was a fair point, Frank just hadn’t considered shielding necessary. When he came up into a crouch it was with his shield in front of him. Which immediately paid off, as another arrow buried itself in the wood.

“Three forward, two right.” One of the Hunters called out, and there were several twangs as they fired back. After a moment of staying shielded, they sounded the all clear and Frank stood back up, keeping his shield raised.

“I’m out of practice.” He hadn’t held a shield in months.

Down below, after the massive hole torn in their ranks, the shield wall surged forward, and were ripping the Skeleton to bits as Frank glanced down. The moment they were done, each one of the Shield Guards gabbed what bones they could and started throwing them back into the compound, while reforming ranks.

Their work there done, Frank and Lilijah retreated back to their position. Brar frowned at Frank, and Deli looked a bit worried when he showed up with a hole in his armor.

“I’m fine.” He reassured them. Being alert wasn’t enough, not in this darkness, and at that distance.

“I’ll keep my shield up.”

It was a stupid mistake, and one Frank had no intention of repeating.

***

It was push and pull, for a while, as the dead took their time to pour into town.

The party glimpsed a few demons, here and there. The most notable one being a flyer that tried throwing glowing bottled shit at their position, and took six different arrows to the chest, before burning up.

After that, the demons kept their heads down. While the other side had ranged assets, they were clearly by far inferior to their own. Nowhere was that more apparent than with the two towers. Both were beyond the edge of the secure compound, but each was home to the party of a Master Hunter. And from them, a barrage of arrows could come at any moment.

The Master Hunters and their parties rarely turned their attentions to the inside of town, but whenever they did, all the dead took cover. There was some fighting at the bottom of their towers, from the shouting, but as far as Frank could tell, things were going well so far.

At least a bell must have passed since the dead started pouring into town, because Frank got a mote of mana back. Not long after, alarms sounded.

Shouts called out from the two towers, which in turn spread among the defensive lines. Frank didn’t need to hear them, to see what was coming.

In the distance, on the other side of town, a massive monster climbed onto a large building. Though it was dark, the beast shined with malevolent, dark blue light.

“What is that?” Deli asked, squinting. She wasn’t the only one. Both Lilijah and Brar were squinting as well.

Frank had no trouble making the monster out, even if it was more than a kilometre from them. It was the size of a semi-truck, without a trailer. Clad in frozen crystal armor, overlaid over bristling pale fur.

The Frost Hound howled and charged the defensive lines, moving as quick over the rooftops as a car would on a flat road. It would be here in a few breaths.

All three members of his party froze for a moment, before clenching weapons. Frank felt the same. Hell, at least he had a ranged option that might actually hurt it. As the Frost Hound came on, getting in range, dozens of arrow were launched at it.

Most, the dead beast avoided by zig-zagging among the rooftops, moving erratically. What arrows did hit, hardly seemed to hurt the Greater Dead. It came on as an unstoppable train, getting closer, closer.

Frank didn’t need the whistles and horn calls to know he should fire.

As the monster neared, he readied a comet. He couldn’t afford to miss. As it jumped into his range, Frank held his shot. Only once its feet left the ground to leap over another alley, did he fire. A line of red hot light linked his staff and its head, the comet shattering against the oncoming train of frozen ice. It blinded the Frost Hound for a moment, but when the dead beast came out of the fire, it just looked pissed off.

Angry at him.

It was coming straight for them.

Frank started backing away, his party followed.

But as its feet landed on the ledge for the next leap, two arrows suddenly just appeared in its knees. They’d left shimmering trails of soft white light in their wake, leading back to both towers.

Instead of jumping towards them, the Frost Hound stumbled, losing its footing. It slipped into the alley before it, but turned out too fat to fit, fully.

His heart hammering in his chest, Frank watched as the large beast slid in feet first. Its feet started fruitlessly scrabbling at the snowcovered roof. “It has no leverage to get out.” Frank realised, just as dozens of arrows and spears, as well as some thrown axes impacted the beast. It was much easier to hit, when pinned in place.

In response, it heaved, digging in with the back two feet, and the stone of the roof groaned and cracked. Breaking free, it came out of the alley like a runaway puck on ice, crossing another rooftop in the blink of an eye.

There was an impossibly loud “thump”, like the beat of a helicopter, somewhere above them. Just as the Frost Hound was about the jump on the party in the front, a group of brave souls who’d taken a stand between Frank, his party, and the thing, the Frost Hound tried to backpedal, sliding on the snow and ice.

A massive dark form buffeted Frank and everyone else, as a bird the size of a private jet slammed into the Frost Hound claws first. Such was the force of the impact, that the house the Greater Dead was on crumbled.

The bird was two, maybe three stories tall, with a wingspan of at least twelve meters. A blast of arctic wind blew away the snow and dust, engulfing the massive bird, ice forming all over its dark blue feathers. The Northern Skydancer shook off the forming ice, buffeting them all with painfully cold wind and sharp shards of magical ice. Then its massive beak came down on the pinned Frost Hound.

Frank felt the impact in his boots, as the ground shook.

It was like some massive machine, like a pile driver, was hitting the ground. Once, twice, thrice, the bird struck the Frost Hound, each blow titanic, shaking snow loose. Another blast of cold struck it, but the massive avian monster ignored the cold winds. It pressed one foot down on the Frost Hound, and raked the dead beast with the massive claws of the other leg, before hitting the Hound again with its beak.

Frozen flesh shattered.

The Frost Hound almost fell apart. Frank only just caught a small shape, no larger than a grown kit, dash away at incredible speed.

Leaving most of its flesh behind.

“Hold.” The voice of one of the senior Hunters called, from that party that had placed itself between Frank's party and the dead monstrosity.

The bird looked around, screeching at them. No one attacked it. The Skydancer peered around, then went back to plucking at the frozen body. Grasping much of the frozen lump of flesh in both claws, the bird leaped up, struggling to stay in the air with another heavy thump of its wings.

“DOWN!” A scream warned.

Frank dove for the floor, and so did everyone else. Brar was the only one who compromised in that, by placing himself between the rising bird and his party, with his shield raised. Seeing as that was a great idea, Frank raised his own shield, beside Brar’s.

The noise, the impact, it was like a bomb went off. Thunder deafened Frank, and something massive kicked his shield into him, but Frank managed to not get thrown away like a doll.

When the blast wind cleared, all the snow within dozens of meters was gone, the rooftops barren. Of the bird, the only sign were distant thumps, slowly fading. Mostly uninjured Hunters and Warriors were getting up all over the place.

Frank joined them, helping Lilijah to her feet. She and Deli had taken shelter behind their shields, which left both at the bottom of the pile.

Grumbing, Lilijah sprang away, heading for where the abandoned body of the Greater Dead had been broken. She wasn’t alone, as several Hunters advanced on it.

A whistle froze them in their tracks. Reluctantly, they returned to their parties.

Lilijah shook her head in disgust. “Greater Dead flesh, just sitting there.”

Looking over Frank spotted several severed or broken lumps of frozen flesh. Lumps the Bones who were appearing were quick to pull it out of sight, losing some members to more sling stones.

The trouble was, Frank could also see all the ways the dead could sneak up on any party that tried to go out there and take it.

“It’s not great, but it’s not worth your life, Hunter.” Frank reminded her.

Lilijah looked down at the Bones gathering again, and scoffed. “The Bones wouldn’t have gotten us.”

“Just like an arrow shouldn’t have gotten me.” Frank reminded her.

That made her think. Look at the field with fresh eyes. Lilijah grimaced, like she’d tasted something very sour. “Point.” She conceded with ill grace. But she did concede.

“We’ll work on that.” Frank checked his condition.

Health = 39/50

Mana = 4

It was a pleasant surprise to find out he hadn’t lost any Health, in the backblast of the Northern Skydancer taking off.

A distant bell rang, marking the time. It wasn’t even midnight yet. “This is going to be a long night.” Frank noted.

“Aye.” Brar agreed. “Long and fruitful.”

There was that. “Even if there was no material gain, we have to make some progress with all that’s going on, right?”

“It’s already a night for songs.” Deli agreed.

“Well, let’s try and make it a happy song.” Frank concluded.

For a minute there, with that thing bearing down on him, he’d actually been afraid. Not for others, but for his own life.

That fear made Frank feel alive.

He wanted more like it. Frank knew that wasn’t the best idea, and wouldn’t act on it. But he could enjoy the adrenaline rush when it happened anyway.

“Sex after a near death experience is incredible. There’s nothing quite like it.”

It made Frank tingly just thinking about what he was going to do with-

Deli smacked him. Didn’t even say what for. They both knew.

“No lewd thoughts on duty, right.”

Brar chuckled at the byplay, while Lilijah shook her head, scoffing at his foolishness.

Frank didn’t mind. A certain amount of levity was good for party morale.

Especially on a night like this.