I blinked as the air rushed past the side of my face with such force that I stumbled to my right and lost balance. Nikhara’s massive sword swept out and cleaved bodily through both lunging hunters in their mid-leap. A wide brilliant arch of pale green sliced out through them and blazed into the air, to dissipate into motes of verdant light.

I blinked away the spots and rubbed my eyelids when I heard the heavy tread of Nikhara footfalls on the bridge. Fumbling to my feet I shook away the blurring colouration muddling my vision and snapped my loaded rifle up as I stood to follow her.

Then an black arrow pierced my shoulder and my world was briefly blurred by pain and fire. My gun fell from my hands and dropped onto the floor of the bridge. I tried to move my right arm, but the coursing flare of searing agony informed me that my shoulder was indeed injured.

The black bone shaft of the arrow still embedded in my flesh through my armoured suit hummed with an ominous purple light, that was bled through by pale green flecks.

The arrow had punctured my armoured suit so easily and that knowledge worried me more than I liked. I had thought the knights to have no range weaponry. Their equipment was outdated if not conventional. Yet it seemed to suit their purposes well. I should’ve then reasoned that they would’ve indeed had some range capabilities.

Oh well, I could berate myself later.

The purple pulse emitting from the arrow wedge inside me, was overcome by the pale green fire, and I immediately felt the pain lessen somewhat.

The clang of fighting echoed to me.

Nikhara was engaging the knights and I needed to get off my ass and support her. Gritting my teeth and grimacing against the pain, I climbed roughly to knees and reached for my weapon.

My shoulder flared with agony, but I ignored the pain and retrieved my rifle. I wanted to tear the arrow out of my shoulder, but I was unsure of the style of arrowhead used. I was also worried about my regenerative ability healing around the arrow. It could do that after all.

The amount of times I’d had to have surgery to remove shrapnel, only for my regeneration to kick it and begin healing the small surgical slice as soon as it was made.

Propping my weapon on my knee I reached over and clicked the button to rack the slide. Then with what felt like an herculean effort I stood and used my rifle despite the aggravating arrow shaft sticking out of my shoulder.

My weapon drummed as I aimed the sight on my rifle at a dagger wielding knife. I fired off six rounds and twisted to my left as an arrow whizzed narrowly pass my head.

I ducked down and stumbled forward in a low crouch, keeping Nikhara’s back in front of me. I reasoned that the range fucker’s wouldn’t shoot their own people.

I thought wrong apparently, as an arrow penetrated the neck of a spear knight fighting Nikhara and punctured through to strike her. Luckily my wife’s massive ass sword came up and blocked the projectile before it could take her between the eyes. The spear knight went down, dead at her feet and Nikhara wasted no time in stomping its head and advancing forward.

I shook my head dumbly at the sheer lack of camaraderie these knight’s felt for one another. I advanced as well keeping to ducking and leaning out to fire on the coming knights. Each and every time the ranged knights took a shot at me, but I never saw the origin of their firing.

“Nikhara, we need to speed this up a bit,” I shouted to her as she grunted and cleaved through the railing of the bridge and took the hand off a battle-axe wielding knight. Her sword cutting cleanly through the bone shaft of the weapon as its hand flew through the air.

I saw Blue Bitch ignite its barrel and blast laser fire at where I guessed the ranged knights were. Then the drone weaved to its right and then left in quick succession as twin arrows shot passed its machine body.

“Hold on to something!” Nikhara shouted back to me, and I weaved my arm around the bridges railing. Then Nikhara held her sword overhead and her grip tightened. A pulse of green energy suffused the blade in a shroud of viridian green fire. I saw the pale green veins on the sword gleam an intense glow as they summoned forth power for the orc-dryad to wield.

Was Nikhara using magic? I didn’t know. How could I considering how little I knew of magic. My wife yelled a fierce battle cry and brought her sword hurling down into the bridges centre. As it hit, I felt the bridge beneath me ripple like a wave. In front of Nikhara was a different matter entirely. What I could only describe as a blazing green and crackling yellow chasm of energy tore through the middle of the bridge to obliterate the knights who’d been before her into dismembered pieces.

Then Nikhara cried out in pain as an arrow took her in the chest and she fell back, her sword falling limp from her hands.

“Nikhara!” I yelled in anger and fear. Racing onto my feet I grunted as Blue Bitch whirred past me, and an arrow skipped off its bulk. Running over I gathered my wife into my arms and grunted as I hefted her blade up to shield us as best as I could.

Leaning out I saw two bow knights nocking arrows and taking aim. The twin thumping dongs against the sword reverberated throughout the blade and my hand holding the weapons hilt.

I remembered a shield long ago known as the tower shield and figured this sword better matched that description perfectly. I position my back against the flat of Nikhara’s tower sword and gently twisted the release on her helmet.

Dryad’s had some factor of internal healing about them, and I knew from experience that Nikhara could heal partially over time. Not as fast as I could but with some rest she could gather herself once again.

I needed to get her to safety. Her green skin was pale, and I saw the purple light emanating off the arrows shaft swell with a gluttonous glee as it began to devour on my wife’s vitality. The area around the arrows shaft was turning her skin to a dry shrivelled brown, like bark.

Grabbing the shaft of the arrow I prayed there were no barbs on the head, and I tore the arrow free. Nikhara cried out and she looked flush with fever and sweat. Her eyes were half-lidded, and her breathing was ragged. Seeing the extent the arrow had preyed on her, I couldn’t figure out why it hadn’t done the same to me.

I grunted as the tower sword—yes I named my wife’s sword for her, I’ll likely hear about it later—struck against my back as more arrows bounced off of it.

“I need…” I fumbled as my mind whirred like Andrea’s drone. Then it hit me, Nikhara helmet was free for my use. Which meant I could contact—

“Agh shit,” I muttered in realisation. My HUD was deactivated because it kept glitching out. Grinding my teeth, I slid Nikhara’s helmet on my head and breathed deeply, calming myself. Then I blinked my left eye twice and almost cheered for joy when my heads-up-display switched on without a problem.

Moving quickly I linked my neural-implant with the helmet and waited as they synced. I didn’t know if my HUD would glitch out again, so I needed to use my time quickly.

Then I felt my link connect through and heard Andrea soft, annoyed voice muttering on the other end.

“Ohh, this is fucking bad. I- shitcuntass fucking arrow-ass shits,” Andrea’s potty mouth filled my ears like music.

“Andii?” I said and heard the android curse as she jumped.

“B-babe?”

“Yeah, I’m using Nikhara helmet. She’s down. Wounded and weak, but alright.”

“Ah, shit. Are you okay? Cause its getting it really hard to control B-B,”

“What’d you mean?” I asked her and felt the sword at my back shift slightly as an arrow reflected off the flat of the blade.

“Something is causing interference with my baby. I can’t get a pin point on its location but beyond this bridge you’re at. My connection to B-B is pretty much static, babe.”

“Oh, alright,” I answered and thought for a moment. “You can see the two knight’s correct?” I asked her.

“Knights? you mean those fuckers shooting bone spears at me? yeah I see them,” Andrea replied. And I decided to not contemplate how she was a synthetic android, acting like a teenager who’d been allowed by their parents to start cussing for the first time.

I guess even androids had differing ways of expressing themselves.

“What’s their location?” I asked.

“They’re each on either side of the bridge, opposite your position,” Andrea informed me.

“Okay… Draw the right sides fire for me while I try and pin the left one down. Just wait for my signal, okay?”

“Got it, babe.”

I grimaced and reaching seized the arrow shaft protruding from my shoulder and tore the projectile free. Fortunately, my annoyance was also not-barbed.

I clenched my teeth against the intense flare of itching crawling across the wound painfully, and I waited as my shoulder began to mend itself.

Within three shallow breaths my shoulder only ached from the lingering memory of pain. Bracing my back against Nikhara’s tower sword I waited for a brief break in their shooting. I didn’t know how much ammunition they had, nor did it matter at this point.

“Now!” I ordered to Andrea through the neural-link and leaned out of my cover to fire on the left side knight. There was a brief moment where I couldn’t see his position. Then I saw the sleek knight’s arm draw back to shoot, and I fanned the trigger of weapon. Bursts of fire sprang from the barrel of my rifle as It spat rounds to impact bodily against the knight.

It released its drawn arrow and the black bone shaft shot across the distance to whip past my head narrowly missing my ear by an inch.

“Shit,” I exclaimed and ducked back quickly into cover. Only to understand that that was a terrible idea. I needed to supress the bow knight, or it would keeping shooting at me.

With a grim nod of determination I leaned out again and pulled the trigger on my rifle, only to jar backwards into cover when an arrow skipped off the length of my weapon’s barrel.

“Damn that was close,” I murmured and snapped out to fire a few rounds at the knight then duck back again. My shots simply struck the knight and forced it to stumbled back on its feet. I looked to my left, to see Blue Bitch strafing the right side’s ranged knight. Her barrel spun and with it, several orange beams of laser fire shot out to pepper around the range knight. One clipping the knights hand as an arrow materialised out of an slit at the centre on its palm.

“Freaky,” I muttered and nodded, understanding now where all their ammunition was coming from. Somehow they were generating it within themselves and shooting it at us.

I looked at Nikhara’s weakened state, moved her right arm in an inch behind the ridiculously massive sword. And decided it was time to stop being pinned down. I shot out from behind cover and sprinted across the bridge, moving as fast as I could.

My side’s knight, had decided to focus on Andrea’s drone instead of me. As it twisted its more slender skull helm towards me, I brought my weapon up and pulled the trigger, aiming at its arms. My rounds punched through its arm easily and the knight spun about, as it twisted with the impact.

It hit the ground and rolled onto its feet as I jumped off the edge of the bridge and landed no more than three metres away from the knight.

Its bow was actually moulded to the chitin on its left arm and was already raised to aim at me. My rifle trailed a stream of rounds across its chest, neck and skidded along the side of its skull helm. Then I ducked down into a roll to my left as it quickly swung its right arm up, an arrow sliding out of its palm to fire at me. I heard the thunk behind me, as the shaft impaled the floor.

My weapon barked, and kicked in my hands as I twisted onto a knee. Its helmeted head crumpled with the intense fire, and I spent the remainder of my magazine decimating its skull.

It fell limp and smiled grimly, “Andrea--” I started to say turning towards the last knight but then an arrow struck my left shoulder and twisted me off my feet to sprawled on the ground.

“Arrgghh!, fuck” I growled out and clutched at the shaft. This really wasn’t funny, and I couldn’t decide whether the bow knight had hit me in my good shoulder purposefully.

“Marcus--” a voice scream in my implant and cut off with a blur of static, “don’t worry-- babe.” Andrea soothing tones were muddled out by the intense whirr of Blue Bitch as it shot through cavern, and plummeted directly onto the bow knight.

It was as if the connection between her and the drone had been completely severed. Its propellers buzzing like thousands of agitated bees one minute, the next it clunked to a halt and the drone simply fell in an arch to squash the ranged knight completely.

“Andrea?” I gasped, not from the death of her drone, but from the pain.

“I lost connection. Are you okay, babe?”

“Uh-huh. I’m fine, hurts more than anything,” I said, the expression was one I never completely understood. Of course, pain hurt. Some pain hurts more than others.

More than anything? does that then encompass all pain, or all of everything else one could feel. I shook my head, my mind wandering away from me as I sat up and twisted the arrow shaft out.

The accompanying itch came as my shoulder reknitted.

I got to my feet, looked about warily, but saw no signs of other knights or hunters. I didn’t trust my brief glance though. If they had ears they could listen. So my little gun fight would be heard and eventually more will come to find us. I needed to move Nikhara to a safe location.

Back where the doctor/researcher hid? No, that was too far away. I looked about again, and walked over to retrieve my rifle on the ground. The spent magazine ejected, and I grimaced. I was on my last mag.

Attaching my rifle on my back mount I moved over to Andrea’s drone. The dead knights body was torn in two, but both halves were trapped beneath the drones bulk.

I looked the ranged knight over.

Its body was certainly different than the usual close quarter knights we’d been facing so far. It was sleeker, more slender and shorter than the others. The black bone chitinous armour across its body was more smoother as well. Like a skin-tight suit, instead of protective armour.

The bow knights build was also noticeably feminine, yet lacked the common breast moulds seen on armour. It reminded me of a male Faen pixie. They looked feminine as well, even though they had a penis. The only difference in gender for a pixie was wings, breasts, and whether they had a dick or not. Which, when I considered it was probably true for most species. Except for the wings of course.

Crouching down beside the ranged knights dead body, I reached out and touched its featureless slender skull helm. The instant my gauntleted finger pressed to its surface a pale green ripple of energy spread out at the contact.

I snapped my hand back and retreated as the helm hissed, began to fluidly slide away, receding to reveal the womanly face within.

It was different than the faces of the other knights I’d seen. Purple varicose veins spread up the face from where they blanketed the neck.

The other difference was that it lacked eyes. The sight reminding me of the sealed mouths of the CQ knights. Some sort of ironic cosmic play was at work here.

I stepped back from the ranged knight and grabbed Andrea drone. Then I spent the next few minutes towing the drone back across the bridge after grabbing Nikhara and her sword. I stowed my wife, the drone, and the sword back behind a building.

I then tugged a wide trash disposal unit in front of them, hiding them from sight.

I wanted to wait around and make sure my wife was okay, but instead I sent a call to Andrea.

“Andii?” I questioned through the neural-link.

“Yeah, I’m here babe.”

“I’m giving Nikhara back her helmet. So I’ll be out of communication with you again--”

“Wait, what?” she gasped interrupting me, but I carried on ignoring her.

“Once she comes around inform her that I’ve gone ahead. Oh and your drone should be back online soon,” I informed my android wife and ignoring her protests I cut the link and twisted the helmet off. Then I positioned it back on Nikhara and breathed out deeply.

Going ahead alone would be stupid. I could take Nikhara’s sword, but I was likely to cut my arm off or something trying to wield it.

Which meant I was down to my rifle, and last magazine, as well as my revolver with five rounds left. Stopping I decided to fully load my revolver. All five rounds filling the loading cylinder.

I cracked my neck, looked back at my orc-dryad’ wife’s limp body and squared my shoulders. Then I moved back across the bridge and headed for the central laboratory.

The large doors to the lab were defended by two large knights. The pair wielding mean looking purple emblazed battle axes. They were about a foot taller than the CQ knights, and boarder across the chest. Their skull helms were pronged on either side by a pair curve horns.

I whistled softly to myself as I sighted them down my rifle. The holographic sight painting across their stoic forms. They hadn’t come to engage in the fighting a few minutes earlier which meant their job was likely defending the labs entrance.

“I wonder if I could just ask them nicely and they’ll let me in,” I mumbled to myself. I half expected Andrea to make some smartass comment about me talking to myself. But empty silence I was hearing, was all that replied to me. Thankfully my HUD hadn’t decided to glitch out just yet. Not that it would be much help to me, other than cataloguing everything I saw for later use.

I needed to find some sort of back entrance inside.

I scurried behind a small wall, my footfalls softly clipping against the metal grids beneath my feet. I looked over the wall and spotted a small vent about nine feet up on the building. Beneath it was a kindly stacked set of metallic crates. Their labelling marking them as Dawn Sect, the words embolden over an image of a rising sun, illuminating some city beneath it.

I made a mental note to remember the name and image, and then began to climb atop the crates up to the vent. Once there I hooked my fingers between the slanted bars and pulled back.

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]