Chapter 72 * Gilmore *

As the last vestiges of sunlight filtered through the uneven mountains to reach the town of Gilmore, a loud bell clanged noisily from the watchtower at the northern edge of the city.

“Attack! Attack! We’re under attack!”

Dozens of soldiers could be seen heading down the northern path, and the front line was over twenty men wide despite the narrow mountain pass. This was because, up above them on a high cliff, several guardians were using mandamus to forcibly push back the rockface on either side as the platoons pressed forward.

Within seconds the first wave of soldiers was met by over a hundred pogs and the battle had begun. Despite the ferocity of the giant pig creatures, Rockwall’s forces were steadily advancing forward.

Jansdimion stood on the roof of a three-story building surveying the progress of the battle with interest. Beside him was a tall man with light-tan skin and short green hair. Unlike most of the fatigue-wearing soldiers in Davron’s army, he wore brown armor made from ustus and leather. His name was Liger Fleetfoot and his slightly pointed ears distinguished him as a half-elf. He was one of the three colonels under Jansdimion’s command.

“Well, they didn’t disappoint; that’s an impressive army.” Jansdimion said as he turned to Liger. “You know what to do now, right?”

Liger nodded. “Yes sir, I’ve already given the order to my captains to start a general retreat to the east path, though I hate the idea of running from a fight. I know a lot of our men are going to be demoralized since we’re only depending on the monsters in this battle. They want to feel like they’re earning the peace Lord Davron promised with their own hands.”

“They’ll have their chance soon, don’t worry. We’ll need everyone to pull off the final stage of Lord Davron’s plan. Plenty of fighting for all,” Jansdimion said with a slight chuckle. “But for this to work, we need all of our troops out of the city as quickly as possible. The creatures already know to hold them off until it’s time. Once you’re certain everyone is on the east path, have the Rockwalkers seal it off so that you can’t be followed.”

“Yes sir,” Liger said. “May I ask why we’re waiting until midnight to execute the next phase of the plan? Wouldn’t it be more advantageous to attack while the Fantasmal Forces are tied up here?”

“If all goes to plan, the delay will prove well worth it,” Jansdimion said vaguely. “Now that things are in motion, I’ll be able to reveal our full strategy. Come see me after your done. I’m going to have a meeting with all the colonels.”

“Very well, sir. I’m off then.” Liger gave a salute before jumping nimbly from the roof.

Jansdimion continued to watch the battle for a few more minutes until he saw Gamdon covertly rushing into a nearby building that housed a smithy. He was not retreating like the others. “I hope you know what you’re doing, you old fool,” he said with a sad shake of his head before leaving the rooftop.

***

“I hope they know what they’re doing,” Karmandrian said as he swung a heavy mace at the pog that was bearing down on him.

“I’ve seen them fight together; they’ll be fine.” Pathos said. His back was to Karmandrian making sure that none of the pogs overtook them from behind. A light sword was in one hand, a shield in the other. “On your right!”

Karmandrian ducked as a sword was aimed for his head and with a quick mandamus command, “Mittius Mandamus Wind,” the pog went flying. “Head’s up!” he called loudly.

Ace and Alice were just in front of them and heard Karmandrian’s call. Alice used her own wind command to throw the pog into position and Ace sliced at it with his longsword.

“I still can’t believe Ace is Cal,” Karmandrian said as he watched their well-honed teamwork in action while still keeping his guard up.

“No time for jealousy, Karman,” Pathos quipped as the duo continued to rebuff pogs on all sides.

“I’m not jealous!” Karmandrian snapped. He struck a pog so hard with his mace that it slammed into the mountainside, dazed.

Pathos chuckled at this. Despite the perilous nature of the battle and the dozens of enemies swarming them, they were both still at ease, confident in their skills.

“Okay, maybe I’m a little jealous, but it’s not like I ever had a chance with Alice,” he admitted before dodging an axe attack and swinging his mace at the pog in front of him. “She always only had eyes for Cal, even before we met her.” He managed a glance at Ace whose color-changing robe was now purple. “I guess I can see why.”

For his part, Ace’s mind was only half on the battle in front of him, and half on his strained relationship with Tabatha. His movements were automatic, more a testament to his years of experience than a conscious strategy he was using.

“It’s impressive that you can brood and fight at the same time,” Alice said teasingly at his side. “I suppose even the creatures of the Book of War don’t merit your full attention.”

“I’m not brooding,” Ace said sharply as he slashed angrily at the pog in front of him, cutting the pig-faced creature down with a squeal of anguish. “Okay, maybe I’m brooding a little,” he relented.

“I’ve always known that there was someone in your past,” Alice revealed as she knocked a pog aside with her axe, holding it off until Ace was ready to dispatch it. “You were so guarded with your feelings at first. I figured you’d been hurt before, but it wasn’t that, was it. You lost her when you were transported to this world.”

“She thought I abandoned her; maybe she’s right. Mittius Mandamus Terra.” Ace pushed back the oncoming wave of pogs by making a large rock wall that moved smoothly along the ground ahead of them.

Alice used the slight reprieve to catch her breath. She threw aside the axe and picked up a discarded sword and shield instead. It seemed that as long as they were able to separate the pog from its weapon before its death, the weapons remained even when the monster disappeared, meaning that there were always plenty to choose from when whatever they were using broke or became dull.

“That’s not true, and you know it,” Alice said as she got into position once again. “I’m not saying she doesn’t have a reason to be upset, but you can’t blame yourself.”

The pogs broke through the rock barrier Ace had created and the battle was on once again.

“Does anyone else feel like this is a bit too easy?” Pathos called from behind them.

The foursome had already pushed their way well into the city and even though the mass of pogs seemed to have no end, they were making steady progress.

“You want this to be harder?” Karmandrian said indignantly as he used the mace to beat back two pogs that rushed him simultaneously.

“I’m just saying, it doesn’t feel like they’re really putting up a fight. I feel like we had a harder time in Murrilogic and Riverbed,” Pathos countered.

“We’ll this time we’re surrounded by soldiers and have guardians above keeping things from getting out of hand,” Ace pointed out. “This was your plan, remember?”

“I know, I know,” Pathos said as he dodged multiple sword swipes with practiced ease. “Something just feels off, like this is just a distraction. Just keep an eye out; that’s all I’m saying.”

“Oh, and here I was fighting with my eyes closed,” Alice said sarcastically as she hurled the shield like a disc at a charging pog.

***

“I’m almost ready, Chief,” Richard Foy said as he hurriedly threw tools and large chunks of quartz rock into a rucksack.

Gamdon stood with his back to Foy, watching the stairwell that led up to the first floor of the quartzsmith shop. “Make sure you have everything you need. Once we slip out of town, I’ll be taking you to the translift that we need you to reroute.”

Foy hefted the bag on his back. Despite his age, he was far stronger than he looked, having worked in a physically demanding job most of his life. “Fantasma’s army couldn’t have picked a worse time to attack. Another day and I could have been done with the repairs to the translift network.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Gamdon said calmly. “You’ve already done more than enough with that network for us to succeed. This is the only work left that we need you to do. I’m sorry I must drag you through this battlefield. I appreciate your bravery. You could have easily escaped with the others when the alarm sounded.”

Foy shoved a few more spare tools into his mentant-blue robe. “It’s fine; not like you could’ve known that this attack would happen.” He stepped up next to Gamdon. “I’m ready, sir.”

Gamdon nodded. “Stick close to me no matter what. We’re going to head west. Whatever happens, don’t panic. As long as we both keep our heads, Lord Davron’s plans will be realized. At midnight tonight, everything will change.”

“Yes sir,” Foy said eagerly.

Gamdon led them up the stairs to the main shop area. “Now, we just need to wait a few more minutes. Once Jansdimion starts the real battle, we can run while the chaos is happening and Fantasma’s troops are distracted.

***

Almost an hour into the Gilmore raid saw Ace, Alice, Pathos, Karmandrian, and an entire company of soldiers in the heart of the small town. Though dozens of pogs still pressed on them from all sides, the guardians were able to hold them back with relative ease using safe shields. This gave them a few minutes to regroup and get their bearings. Though it was twilight, there was still just enough light to take stock of their surroundings, but soon darkness would completely overtake them, making it harder to fight and find their enemy.

“It’s like no one’s here,” Pathos said as he looked around. The relative emptiness of the streets was unnerving. “No soldiers, just monsters.”

“Maybe they all ran and figured the creatures would take care of things,” Karmandrian shrugged.

“That’s not good,” Ace said. “It means Davron could be long gone.”

“Spread out and start searching all of these buildings and comb the city for signs of where they could have run to,” Rockwall ordered to the troops around him. “They can’t have gone too far. Without their quickener cave, there’s no way for them to escape these mountains. We’ll catch them.”

“I’m going to go to the tower; that’s where Mrs. Guardman is supposed to be,” Ace said.

Before he could even take a step in that direction, Alice screamed, “Look out!”

Ace instinctively jumped back, and a huge boulder landed just in front of him, causing him to topple backward in shock. Though it missed him, there were soldiers nearby who weren’t so fortunate. They were instantly crushed and killed. Loud crashes reverberated all around the city and there were screams of fright as giant boulders were flung from an unknown source.

“What in Alaman’s name is going on!” Pathos shouted.

“Everyone take cover!” Rockwall ordered.

“Mittius Mentenus Safe,” Pathos commanded, and a green dome appeared around him and his comrades, though he had no idea if it would be enough to protect them from the large projectiles.

“Mittius Mandamus Terra!” Alice called as soon as she saw one of the stones heading their way. Her mandamus command was able to force the boulder to swerve away from them slightly and strike the base of the tower instead.

“It’s too dangerous to redirect them. I can’t see where they’re coming from,” Alice shouted over the sound of more crashes. “We need light.”

From the high cliffs, several guardians acted all at once to aid their comrades. “Mittius Mentenus Light.”

Giant glowing orbs flew high into the air and their combined light was like a mini sun illuminating the small town.

Finally, they could see their assailants. High on the mountains, much higher than even the guardians, were twelve giant creatures that looked like stone golems. Their bodies were a composite of large rocks, they had glowing red eyes, and they were each twice as tall as a giga pog. Even as the soldiers below stared up in awe at these new monsters, several of the creatures held their arms high and huge boulders formed between their outstretched hands which they then hurled down into the city with incredible speed and precision. They weren’t just throwing them at random, they were clearly aiming for large groups of soldiers.

“Curse the rocks,” Rockwall said in both awe and terror.

Just as they were getting acclimated to this new threat, more pogs swarmed in from the southern and western entrances of the town, complicating the battle even further. The pogs had no fear of being crushed by the giant stones and redoubled their efforts to break through the ranks of the soldiers on all sides.

“This was Davron’s plan all along,” Pathos said through gritted teeth. “This was an ambush.”

***

“What in Alaman’s name is going on out there,” Sherrilynn squealed.

The floor beneath them shook as something hard struck the tower, and more loud booms could be heard in the distance.

“The battle must have started,” Jacob said. He tried to project an air of calmness, but his voice trembled a little. “There’s no way to know what’s happening. The entire tower is shielded by quartz; I can’t see out mentantly.”

They had been playing memorus as a way to distract from the impending battle, but as the heavy booms continued, the game was all but forgotten.

“Will we be safe here,” Mrs. Guardman asked.

As if in answer, the tower shuddered dangerously again, and part of the ceiling caved in right over Helena. Jacob dived across the table to knock her out of harm’s way.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he helped Helena to her feet.

Helena grabbed her staff, making sure it hadn’t been broken. “Yeah, I’m fine, but we need to get out of here.”

“I agree,” Jacob said. “Sherrilynn, Mrs. Guardman, we’re going.”

They both nodded, looking nervous.

“Don’t worry, the creatures of the Book of War won’t come after us; my granddad promised me,” Helena assured. “All we have to do is stay out of the way of the battle and we’ll be fine.”

Jacob unsheathed his sword and flung the door open. “Follow me.”

They quickly made their way out of the room and down the tower’s spiral staircase.

***

There was chaos throughout Gilmore as boulders were continuously hurled down into the city, crushing soldiers and destroying any buildings that people were trying to hide in. The pogs had formed a perimeter around the city, specifically at the paths that would allow escape, to keep them from retreating.

Rockwall was having a hard time organizing the troops to fight back. The twelve golems, known as rockwalkers, were so high up that no attacks could reach them. Even the guardians stationed on high ledges could do little to help. They tried using mandamus to manipulate the rockface and force the monsters to fall, but the unique abilities of the rock-based creatures allowed them to anchor themselves into the side of the mountain no matter how much it shook or shifted.

“There’s got to be a way to stop those things,” Pathos said desperately. He was underneath a metal awning along with Karmandrian, Ace, and Alice. They weren’t using it for protection, but rather to keep themselves out of sight so that the rockwalkers wouldn’t target them.

“Destroying them would be hard, even if they were down here,” Ace lamented. “How do you kill something made of stone.

Alice wasn’t looking up like the others. She was staring into the window of the store they were in front of. “Guys, this is a quartzsmith shop,” she said in sudden realization. “I see all sorts of materials too: rockwood, steel…I’ve got an idea.”

“I’m up for anything,” Pathos said. “What are you thinking.”

“We’re going to make a bow, a huge one, with metal stakes for arrows. If we take it to the top of the tower, Cal can shoot the stakes at those rockwalkers. I bet that would destroy them.”

“That’s going to be really difficult,” Karmandrian said. “First off, how are we going to make a bow strong enough to shoot giant metal stakes; secondly that tower could come down at any time if boulders keep hitting it.”

“Third, it’s not like I’m great with bows. I don’t think I could shoot one accurately enough to hit anything,” Ace added.

“I can make a sturdy enough bow with mandamus,” Pathos said.

“And we can use mandamus to aim the bolts and give them the extra bit of speed they need to reach their target,” Alice added. “It’s worth a shot, unless you’ve got a better plan.”

Ace rolled his eyes. “That’s unfair, ‘no plan’ is always worse than ‘bad plan.’”

Alice smirked. “Then ‘bad plan’ it is. Let’s go.”

She ran into the building with Pathos on her heels. Karmandrian and Ace gave each other commiserating looks before reluctantly following.

***

At the western edge of the city, pogs and soldiers were fighting fiercely with each side trying to gain ground. Though the beasts were indestructible, the Fantasmal Forces were well trained and could hold their own, though they weren’t able to push back the enemy ranks.

“We’re not going to be able to make it past them at this rate,” Gamdon said to his companion. They were both hiding behind a large boulder crouched against the rockface and trying to avoid being seen. “We may need to find another path out.”

“Shouldn’t we wait? At some point the pogs will beat them back,” Foy suggested.

“It’s possible,” Gamdon agreed, “but I don’t relish tarrying here for too long. Let’s head south instead. We just need to avoid being seen by those guardians.”

Even as he said this, Gamdon looked up to the high ledges where several guardians were surveying the battle from above. Many of them had already descended to join the fray, but there were still several scattered around the mountain ledges either trying to reach the rockwalkers or providing aid to their comrades below. Fortunately, they were all too distracted to scan the area for specific people.

“Let’s go,” Gamdon said, and the duo took off south.

However, it seemed that Gamdon was so focused on avoiding the guardians that he didn’t check the entire area around them. As soon as they left the concealment of the boulder, they heard a shout from behind.

“Hey, hold it right there!” It was one of the soldiers at the back of the group that was fighting the pogs.

“They must be part of Davron’s forces,” another called.

Several of them broke off from the fruitless attack against the pogs to go after Gamdon and Foy.

“Run!” Gamdon shouted.

Though the two were advanced in years, they were still powerful mentus users. They both enhanced their speed with mentus and took off south.

***

“This was a trap; they had to have known we were coming,” a soldier reported to Isabelle through the three-dimensional, semi-transparent image made possible by the large, round, quartz-based communication crystal sitting on a stone table in front of her.

“Where is Rockwall?” Isabelle demanded. “Has a general retreat been called?”

“Yes, but we can’t escape, too many monsters blocking the way,” the soldier seemed to be running even as he was giving the report. “Almost half of our troops are dead, we’ve lost multiple guardians, and the entire city is being destroyed.”

“And Davron?” Isabelle asked.

“Reports say all of Davron’s troops escaped east before this even started, and we can’t follow them. The path is cut off. They’re long gone.”

“Curse the rocks!” Isabelle slammed her fists on the table in anger. “There was never anything to gain in this.”

“You guys are so pathetic,” Tabatha said with an annoyed sigh. “Did you really think you’d catch Davron off guard? Was brute force your only plan to defeat the Book of War?”

Isabelle wheeled around to face her, rage clear on her face. She looked ready to strike the mouthy melder.

“Pogs are headed this way,” came a shout from the lookout at the entrance of the quickener cave.

“How did they break through our defenses?” Isabelle lamented, her anger at Tabatha completely forgotten in the face of this new threat. “Hold them off as best as you can.”

The command center they setup in the quickener cave only had a few guardians and around twenty soldiers to protect it. All of them went out to meet the threat head on.

“We may need to evacuate,” Isabelle told the quickeners and healers that were stationed there.

“I’m not leaving until I know Mrs. Guardman is safe,” Tabatha said as she started for the cave’s entrance. “I’ll take care of this.”

“Where are you going?” Isabelle shouted in frustration. “There’s nothing you can do.”

“I may not have that stupid mark, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing I can do,” Tabatha assured.

As she left the cave, she saw a dozen pogs running up the path and the soldiers bracing themselves to meet the charge head on.

“Mittius Mentenus Safe,” one of the guardians called.

The familiar green energy field shot up between the pogs and soldiers, effectively blocking the entire path. The pig creatures immediately started pounding on it and it began to flicker, indicating that it would soon fall. As the soldiers readied themselves to fight, Tabatha walked past them, her demeanor calm as she approached the barrier.

“Perfect, that’s just what I need.” She stepped up to the safe shield, an almost palpable aura radiating from her, and the pogs stopped pounding on it, as if taken aback. She turned to the guardian that had summoned the shield. “Keep this active for as long as you can, I need to borrow it,” she told her.

The blonde-haired guardian gave her a quizzical look, but before she could ask any questions, Tabatha put her hand on the shield. In that same moment, the guardian felt something jolt through her. It was as if the energy she was channeling into the safe shield had been forcibly increased.

“Lila, are you okay?” her companion asked when he saw her knees buckle.

Lila managed a pained nod. “Yeah, I think.”

Tabatha gave a tutting noise as she closed her hand into a fist. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be the strongest out there? Just bear with it for a little while longer, guardian.”

At the same time the safe shield twisted itself from a straight wall of energy to wrap around the twelve pogs. The energy field then turned amber and started to shrink, trapping the pogs and forcing them into a tight group so that they couldn’t move. Within seconds, both the pogs and the guardian producing the shield looked like they were rapidly losing their strength.

“What are you doing!” one of the other guardians shouted, clearly confused.

Tabatha stepped forward, her eyes dark as she stared at the pogs. “Sleep,” she said softly.

All twelve pogs collapsed to the ground. They didn’t disappear, but it was clear they were incapacitated. Tabatha opened her hand and the amber aura dissipated. Behind her, Lila passed out, but another guardian caught her.

Tabatha let out a long sigh. She also felt drained but seemed to be in better shape than Lila.

Isabelle had watched the entire scene from the threshold of the cave and ran out to Tabatha. “How did you do that?”

“Energy manipulation,” Tabatha panted. “These creatures are the manifestation of energy linked to the Book of War. I can’t break the link, but I can minimize its flow to the point where they’re no longer a threat. I modified the energy the guardian was producing to resonate at a frequency that could hold the monsters while I blocked the flow of their energy to the point where they could no longer move. You might want to have the guardians use their mandamus to blow them away before they wake up again.”

“What about Lila? What did you do to her?” the guardian holding her shouted in anger.

Tabatha turned to them. “Unfortunately, she had too much of her own mentus energy mixed in with the energy she was controlling to create the shield, so she was impacted when I adjusted it for my own purposes. I’m honestly shocked that was enough to knock her out. Anyway, she’ll be fine; healing mandamus will probably put her right. It was only easy to deal with those pogs because they weren’t moving, so her safe shield really came in handy. I couldn’t have made it myself from scratch. Tell her thanks when she wakes up.”

With that, Tabatha headed back into the quickener cave.

The guardian glared at Tabatha’s retreating figure. “Who does she think she is?”

Isabelle shook her head. “The strongest one here.” Her eyes widened as she realized what she needed to do. She raced back into the cave after Tabatha.