30th of Thermidor, 1535

Ivy took off running. One of the bears rushed after her, but Oleander was ready to intercept. He lined up his shotgun and fired off a slug round; through its right eye, the creature’s skull was blown open. Its limbs went limp, but its speed forced it to tumble forward before coming to a rest right at Oleander’s feet.

“Ha! Too easy!” Oleander cheered, kicking the bear’s bleeding head.

Its remaining eye changed colors from orange and brown to white and green. The wire attached to its neck pulled the beast back up into position. It made a noise reminiscent of a roar. Oleander took a few steps back in confusion. Then to his surprise, the bear lunged at him. It wasn’t as fast now, but its claws did manage to cut through his shirt and craze his stomach. With a second shell ready, Oleander fired a pellet shell at point-blank range into the bear’s right shoulder.

Both Oleander and the bear circled each other. The monster hunter glanced over to see Ivy well out of range. He turned back to the bear. Its head was tilted and it was favoring its right shoulder.

“You’re really lucky I don’t have my claymore with me.”

Oleander spotted a rusted axe nearby; if blasting its head open wouldn’t put it down, he’d have to settle for hacking off its limbs.

Cormag was unable to get off a single attack before he was forced to flee. He ran to the edge of the forest where he scampered up the nearest maple tree. Much to his horror, he learned that bears could climb. Cormag kept flailing his way up the tree as the bear roared and swiped at him. Branches snapped with only a single swipe from its paws.

Cormag had a flash of brilliance as he noticed the wire getting caught on the tree’s limbs. Instead of going straight up the tree, Cormag climbed in a spiral—staying close to the trunk as much as possible. The bear’s make-shift leash got snagged on another branch, which gave Cormag his golden opportunity. He bit his thumb to draw blood. He took out one of his stamps and pressed a signum symbol onto the diamond imprint on his glove. Once he slid the blood across the symbol, black wisps spiraled around his hand.

He shouted, “Lacerate!”

The black wisps coalesced into a horizontal beam of energy that shot forward; the attack sliced cleanly through the branch the bear was standing on causing it to fall. Since the wire controlling it was coiled around the tree, the bear didn’t slide very far before the line caught another branch. It was now dangling helplessly.

Cormag stamped the same symbol on the palm of his glove. “Lacerate!”

The horizontal bar of energy flew from his hand and slashed right through the bear’s neck and the wire it was dangling from. The only thing Cormag didn’t plan for was that Lacerate was strong enough to cut through the tree trunk as well. As the bear’s head and body fell to the ground lifelessly, the top half of the tree leaned and quickly toppled over Cormag. The frantic goblin tumbled down the tree, narrowly avoiding the crashing mass of foliage chasing him. As soon as he hit the ground, he jumped clear as the top half of the maple tree slammed down on the bear’s body.

Cormag let out a sigh of relief. Just then a couple of branches shifted, the bear’s body rose from the mess of foliage; its head rolled out as well. Both of them had wires attached where Cormag lacerated them, although the amount connected to each of them was lessened—as if the main wire split in half to support both of them. The wire attached to the head mimicked the movements of a snake; its eyes also changed to resemble human eyes.

“That’s not possible!” Cormag shouted as both the head and body shambled towards him, “Oleander! Don’t cut off its head or legs!”

“Too late!” Oleander shouted back as he was now facing three opponents: the one-eyed bear and its two floating severed arms.

Cormag rushed back to Oleander. The monster hunter swatted and hacked at his three targets but they were relentless. The two friends were back to back as dismembered bear appendages surrounded them.

“Any ideas?” Oleander asked.

Cormag remarked, “I’ve got one, but you’re going to have to draw all of these things’ attention.”

Oleander muttered, “That’s easier said than done right now.”

The duo braced themselves as the bear’s limbs reared back for another attack but to their surprise, the bodies, head, and limbs fell to the ground lifeless. Oleander and Cormag scrambled out from between the two piles of flesh. Just as quickly as they fell limp, the body parts started moving again.

*****

Moira struggled to get back to her feet. When she was dragged down into the hole, she lost grip of Taesha’s legs and was sent tumbling down this strange tunnel. She leaned against one of the earthen walls as she nursed some bruises on her left side. She wasn’t too far from the entrance; she noticed two long wires running through the underground passage and up into the barn. Despite the tunnel system having branching paths, the ruts in the loose dirt floor pointed her in toward her destination. Moira could hardly imagine how raw each child’s heels must be feeling.

Moira surveyed her immediate area; the only thing nearby was a pile of worn and rusted shovels. She picked up the one in the best condition. She pointed the blade straight down and stabbed completely through both wires—it only took a few moments before the severed pieces reattached themselves. Sitting here and chopping away would be fruitless, but she still held onto the shovel, because aside from the flares, it was her only weapon.

Further down the tunnel where the cables led, Moira could hear a faint sniffing and the sound of light footsteps. She readied her shovel. A Doberman appeared and locked eyes with Moira. It had a cable sticking out of the back of its neck too.

“So you were what distracted Madeline Rivers,” Moira asked, “Can you bring me to your owner?” Moira noticed one of its eyes changed from brown to green.

To her surprise, it spoke, or at least it opened its mouth and sound came out, “Leave at once! You will not take these children away! No one will ever hurt them!” The feminine voice wavered as she yelled almost like she was in tears. Without warning, the Doberman charged forward. Moira reared back and swung with all her might; she managed to send the dog tumbling away. It sprung up and seemingly brushed off the hit. It jumped at the spiderkin—getting incredible height as its jaws opened up. The Doberman wanted Moira’s neck. She lifted the shovel and caught the mutt’s maw. Moira pushed the handle further, trying to keep the dog’s mouth away from her. The eighty-pound dog was surprisingly able to push back against her. The wooden rod started to splinter.

The sound of crackling thunder shook the tunnel and a streak of red sparks shot up along the wires. The dog convulsed as electricity coursed through its body. Further down the tunnel, the same voice from earlier screamed bloody murder. While it was stunned, Moira expended a length of webbing to hogtie the dog and keep it muzzled. Safe from immediate danger, Moira raced down the tunnel. The length of wires led to a wooden door; She pressed her ear against it. “More of you?! Errr, maybe this will keep them away!”

“More of you?” Moira thought, “If the rest of the Red Wolves are here, we might be able to overpower her.” She rifled through her pockets and found the set of flares. She contemplated how she would charge into the room.

*****

Oleander popped his ears with his palms, “A little warning next time would be nice!”

“Ah, you’ll live. I got’em both,” Cormag gleefully pointed to the line of limp, smoldering flesh.

Each piece began to twitch, until the bodies, limbs, and heads started to rise.

“What the hell are we fighting?” Oleander asked.

Cormag only shook his head as the bears shrugged off his best attack. Cormag shuffled behind Oleander, who pointed his shotgun right at both of them.

Gale force winds blew through the plum plantation and threatened to knock over the two hunters. They had to shield their eyes. The howling winds brought along the sounds of visceral cuts and slashes. Light green curves of energy danced around the two bear’s bodies—digging into the flesh like finely sharpened knives. The poor creatures were diced into small pieces. Oleander and Cormag looked for the source of such an attack.

Riding through the fields were Marcel and Garrison with Ivy holding onto him for dear life. Marcel had brandished his rapier and the same green energy swirled around the blade. All three of them dismounted and rushed over to bewildered hunters.

Marcel said, “My turn saving you now, Alexander.” His pair of goggles were hastily pulled over his eyes, ruffling up his shoulder-length blond hair.

Oleander chuckled, “Well it’s about time you learned how to use that toothpick.”

Garrison strode up cutting their conversation short, “I’ve been filled in about the children. Something about wires and bears…or what’s left of them at least.”

Despite the flesh being left indistinguishable, the wires remained intact. One of the cables reattached to the only remaining eyeball and observed the five strangers. The free wire recoiled and then like a snake pounced; it snared Marcel’s leg and pulled him away from everyone else.

Both Oleander and Garrison reached out to grab him but barely missed his hand. The wire then hoisted him in the air while also constricting him. He tightened his grip on his rapier and summoned more green energy, but the wire stuck into his neck before he could free himself. His body went limp.

“Marcel!” Ivy cried out.

“He’s out, just like the kids were,” Oleander said.

Marcel’s arm rose; howling winds swirled around his sword until it coalesced into the blade itself. Oleander and Garrison flashed a look to one another. As Marcel swung his rapier down, a massive streak of energy shot towards the group. Oleander grabbed Cormag and Garrison grabbed Ivy, and they each jumped clear of the path of destruction. The energy wave collided with the ground making a twenty-foot gash that went two feet deep. Dirt and grass rained down on the two groups as Marcel’s body readied another attack.

*****

Moira twisted off the smoke flare’s cap, cracked open the door, and tossed it inside. “What the—!” With a smokescreen up in a relatively closed space, Moira slipped through the door and stayed low to the ground. Her eyes scanned the floor for a pair of feet. Once she found her target, she launched herself forward. She flew out of the orange cloud and crashed into a disheveled woman with a large spool of wires strapped to her back.

She shrieked, “Get out! Get out! Get out! You will not hurt my babies!”

One of the woman’s eyes was trained on her while the other darted in different directions—the same went for her hands.

Moira said, “If you surrender now, we won’t kill you."

“You can rot with him when we’re done!” Two metal wires broke off from the spool and started swinging at Moira.

The spiderkin jumped from the floor to the wall and then scuttled across the ceiling to disorientate the woman. She circled the puppeteer and whacked her several times with her shovel. The kidnapper squealed in pain before sending ten more wires after Moira. At this point, half the room was engulfed in smoke; Moira slid back into the obscurity of the orange gas cloud.

Moira spun the shovel around between her four hands. She had one benefit over this puppeteer, Moira could see moderately well through the smoke. With the woman’s concentration split between two battlefields, Moira could take on each metal cable that ventured into the orange fumes. She batted away several bundles of wires and managed to pin two against the wall and sever them. The woman made her annoyance known with her grunts of frustration. What Moira didn’t anticipate was a wire pressed against the floor, sweeping for the flare; when it brushed against Moira’s foot, it coiled around her and the woman was able to rip Moira free of the smoke cloud.

“Take this!”

Additional wires constricted around her arms as she was then thrown against the door, a table, and any cabinets that lined this makeshift dining room.

“I asked you to leave. This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t make me do this!” The puppeteer shouted.

Moira was thrown repeatedly against the wall until she showed signs of not being able to fight back.

“I promise I’ll bury you somewhere nice when you’re done taking care of your friends,” the puppeteer said as a bundle of metal wires slithered up Moira’s back. The spiderkin fought against the restraints on her arm as she reached into her pocket. She could feel the cold metal scrape against her neck. Moira took the flare gun in her hand as the metal dug into her flesh—she pulled the trigger. A spiraling red fireball shot from her gun and smashed against the woman’s face. The fireball exploded on impact into a shower of bright fragments causing the woman to stumble back and clutch her face. She was burned and momentarily blinded.

In a rage, the woman flung Moira against another wall while also letting go of her. The spiderkin slammed into the wall and instantly felt the searing pain of one of her elbows popping out of place. The puppeteer flailed her arms about; loud explosions could be heard from above them. She then pointed at Moira with both of her hands. All twelve wires coiled together into two large arms—she was also inadvertently having Marcel’s body channel more wind energy into his sword. “Begone!” She screamed and then slammed her hands down. The metal arms rushed forward but stopped midway once the sound of a thunderous explosion occurred. She immediately separated herself from her spool of wires, fearing another surge of electricity.

The puppeteer had inadvertently reoriented Marcel’s position while she was momentarily blinded. She accidentally made him send a massive burst of wind energy at the barn—shredding it to pieces and sending heaps of lumber and debris onto the farmhouse behind it. As wood rained on the small house, it collapsed down into the tunnel system—directly where Moira and the kidnapper were. Both of them braced for impact as two buildings’ worth of material fell on them.