Blood was splashed across the light grey bricks of the Burning Road, bandits and raiders hooted and howled, people screamed and cried for help and above all this rose a howl… a howl like the world was ending, a howl like Fenris wolf being freed.

Erika staggered backwards atop her roof, slumping over and onto the green plates as her arm burned, her Well sucking at her very soul as it overdrew. But she barely noticed instead staring at the Gorebeast in front of her.

It did look a bit like a wolf, but one made by a minimalist… and out of blood. Just blood, floating in the air forming the shape of a creature without the sack of flesh usually needed. Erika looked it in the eye and willed a command towards it.

“Kill the enemy archers.”

The Gorebeast didn’t respond instead it took off, flowing and running at the same time off the rooftop and out into the green damp darkness of the Wold. Within seconds Erika heard screams and felt flashes of energy across her link with the Gorebeast, as it bled her foes it fed her with their Odium.

She felt the sucking pain in her chest calm as the power flooded in, her Well refilling just a bit. In the middle distance she saw the shield walls had broken the main charge, now they formed islands of defence in the sea of attackers, Erika saw burning men their chainmail red hot from Ammeris’ alchemy, she saw delvers riddled with arrows, she saw Bjorn staggered back into a caravan minus a hand, blood slicked the runes of the Burning Road and was drank greedily by the roots of the Wold.

Erika fell backwards off her caravan, her stomach in her mouth as she toppled and slammed into the dirt, she could see a handful of archers still standing in the distance ducking and running between the great dark trunks of the Wold’s fir trees as her Gorebeast chased them with sickening slickness running over and under the roots and branches as it toyed with its prey.

Erika felt like she was going to throw up… ah no, not like, was going to. Erika wretched violently into the dirt brown bile spreading across the dirt as her muscles locked and spasmed. This wasn't even her overdraw doing it, she’d just killed someone… a lot of someone’s in fact. Erika doubled over and retched again, the stench of blood hung heavy in the air and the ringing of metal on metal filled Erika’s ears as she desperately wished she’d just stayed at home.

“Well done, Erika!” Erika flinched but saw it was only Helga, she’d fetched a bearded axe from somewhere and held her shield ready stood at Erika’s flank. “Sigurn’s probably fine now, head for the red wagon, you might be able to help some of the injured.

Not knowing what else to do Erika nodded and ran into the melee. Erika had been near the middle of the expedition column when the ambush was sprung but she could see the red enamelled caravan from where she stood, taller than average with eight wheels and four droogs who shifted and strained in their harnesses, each had their fur stained red as they gored any bandit unlucky enough to get close.

Erika could barely make out was what going on but the flow of battle seemed to have stalled, the majority of the expedition had fallen back into a dense core surrounding the caravans whilst the bandits ran free around them. The southern border on the Wold had been claimed by the main bandit force, Erika could see them trying to smash through the shieldwall, Sigurn had joined it she had an onyx black shield and a gleaming green axe big enough for a two hander than she spun easily in only one. Solvor ran past Erika going the other way, her arm gored by something and a snaped off arrow still embedded in her thigh.

Rounding a corner Erika suddenly found herself face to face with a raider, tall with pale skin and brown hair he stank like an animal or a pile of refuse, covered in fur and chain and holding an ironbound club, he leered at her and raised his arm. Erika began to draw on her well, even as the pain made her vision swim… then the Gorebeast arrived. It followed her heart and will after all, Erika hadn't noticed that it had been following her but there it was, the shape of a wolf made from free flowing blood. It touched the raider and he screamed and dried and died, his blood flowing without a wound into her creation.

Another two appeared around the side of the caravan, one with a long spear and the other carrying paired knives, The Gorebeast leapt upon the spearman, flowing around his weapon and consuming him. The knifewoman ran but she couldn’t escape fast enough.

Erika hesitated cried… and ran, there was too much pain, too much bloodshed. She ran harder than she ever had, panting and wheezing and desperately forcing her legs to keep moving just one more step, she wasn’t supposed to be athletic! She was a vitki by the gods! She was supposed to be in a nice warm tower safe behind high walls and thick doors.

Vaulting over an arrow riddled droog Erika stumbled on the ever-renewed ash that layered the burning road and landed heavily on a corpse, Erika tried to scream but all that came out as a horse whimper as her lungs burned and her visioned darkened.

“uhuhuhuhuh.” Moaned the corpse.

Erika’s first thought was Oh of course a draugr on top of everything, her second thought was she’s still alive? It was only a few metres to the red caravan she’d been aiming for and Erika knew what she should do, what she had to do… Damn it all.

Erika reached down and grabbed the arm of the woman lying on the ground, she looks to be middle aged with silver in her brown hair and her arms were corded with dense muscles, her skin had a faint blue tint under the blood hinting at distant jotun ancestry. That was probably the only thing that saved her when her crude leather cuirass had broken around a long iron arrow, it was embedded in her gut, an agonising and deadly wound but one that would probably take a while to kill her.

[Restorative Draft] doubled Erika over in pain as her well dried again but the woman stirred and groaned with a bit more energy as the spell flowed into her, it should have topped up her blood a bit but Erika knew she needed bigger spells and a safer place to heal her.

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“Thank you.” The woman muttered, she seemed to be trying to get up, Erika leant forwards dragging her by her arm and scrabbled towards the caravan even as the world seemed to be falling into chaos all around her. A pair of duelling men tumbled past her iron swords flashing, a thrown spear nearly took out her knee, a man entirely on fire ran past her screaming and…

Erika slammed into the back ledge of the red caravan, retching onto the wood, luckily for her instantly strong arms seized her and dragged her up and in, taking the arm and weight of the woman from her as well and pulling her up next to vitki.

Erika tried to sit down but only managed to fall in a corner, fatigue burning in her limbs she tried to vomit again but only spat up acid and air as her sides pulsed and contracted.

“That’s right, let it all out Erika.” Said a rough but warm voice next to her ear, Erika felt a hand pat her on the shoulder once before withdrawing and returning with a waterskin which it dangled next to her eye. Erika grabbed it, drank a few mouthfuls, spat them up, drank some more and finally managed to look at Bjorn who was sat opposite her with a big, pained, smile on his face… and missing a hand.

Outside battle still raged but Erika felt her mind finally shift gear, this was something she could help with, this was something her magic could do. Calling back her Gorebeast she set it to defend the caravan as she rolled up her sleeves and helped.

Bjorn she couldn’t do much for, regenerating lost body parts was 4th circle and even reattaching them as 3rd, Erika did have the foundational spell of a life shaper though [Smith Flesh] to close the wound and seal the stump.

The woman Erika had dragged in was more involved, Erika carefully sculpted her the flesh of her stomach, moving her organs, rebuilding her gut, moving the arrow out and upwards until it clattered on the floor.

Two others were lying there, a short man with a green streak dyed in his hair, a short white fur tunic and a huge wound carved down from his ribs to his thigh. The other was of indeterminate gender under the dirt and blood, most of which was theirs and was visibly leaking out of a dozen small wounds scattered across their chest and shoulders.

Erika worked as fast as she could, she wasn't a cunning woman and she didn’t have much truck with medicine, to many fluids for her, but life shaping was different. The man got his wound sealed over with a shallow layer of skin after it was thoroughly cleaned out, the broken veins reconstruct as best Erika could. Next was the dirty person, Erika tapped them and used a 1st circle spell [See Within], reading the sacred helix of the blood Erika found out they were female, had distant alf ancestry and they’d been hit hard by something, the cuts were barely worth talking about compared to the internal trauma, it looked like a wagon had fallen on her.

Erika did what she could, sealing and cleaning wounds, stabilising organs, redistributing resources towards the damage. The pain in her well was getting worse and worse, despite the Gorehound guarding the caravan and feasting on anyone who approached. Erika was only a 2nd circle vitki after all, she’d cast a cross pillar spell and it had hurt, burned some part of her soul, it would heal of course souls were nearly impossible to actual permanently damage but until then it was like running on a broken leg.

Healing was entirely outside of her capabilities, all she could do was smith the flesh and bone and hope the body could heal itself, but it was working, she was making a difference!

“TROOLLLLLLL.”

Erika froze, the word echoed through the Wold leaving silence in its wake, silence broken by the sound of snapping branches and the thunder like rumble of huge feet. The thick fir was shoved aside and out strode the troll.

Erika leant out of the caravan to see and gagged when she saw it, she’d heard how ugly they were but this was more than that, this was horror. Jotun were taller than trees but beautiful and skilled, a Hammertooth could as well but it was an animal even if it was bigger than a cottage and Erika had always thought their scales were beautiful and their tiny front arm were funny.

The troll looked nothing like that, five metres tall at the peak of its strange egg-shaped head, its hair reached the ground in irregular strands of greasy grey, its skin was gnarled like leather or bark, its hands hung down at its ankles but its back was horrible hunched towering upwards like a mountain with its head bent forwards and twisted sideways by the mass. All that wasn't the worst part though, that was the rocks. Its skin was covered in rock, growing through it, poking upwards from its bones they left open sores and infected flesh visible as the stone rumbled and churned and replaced them. Its hump was a boulder crowned by spikes of iron ore, its right eye a glittering gem and it’s left a horrible tiny black spot, its mouth hung open drooling endlessly, its fangs made from twisted bone and shards of stone in equal measure.

The troll stood at the edge of the road glaring down with its tiny pig like eye. The raiders cheered and howled as Erika noticed one was stood on each of the creatures’ stony shoulders.

The living siege engine looked down at the shield wall and idly swept its hand through it.

Erika flinched as the screams reach her, a half dozen delvers thrown up into the air and cast away into the Wold. The raiders charged beside their war beast laughing and…

Thunder rumbled.

The troll screamed and staggered backwards clutching at its stomach electric blue fluid coating the ground as it howled.

Erika turned around and saw Alvis holding a smoking thunderarm the size of a full-grown man, without a word he passed it to Tathra who stood at his left and received a new one from Solvor who stood at his right, raising the thunderer he aimed and…

The howl and the boom combined into one deafening crescendo that drove Erika to her knees… it drove the troll there as well. A hole the size of a boulder had been opened it its gut from the two shots, but even as Erika watched the stone ground and grew, plates formed over broken ribs and protruded out of burst organs filling the crater with a spar of solid rock.

Stumbled upright the troll roared and charged, its trailing arms raising like a grasping child but its eye was full of bloodlust as the pain maddened animal rammed through the faltering lines and slapped Alvis with enough strength to bowl over an oak tree.

“Good shot.”

Even in the roaring, the combat, the echo, everyone heard Sigurn who was stood next to the beast and… holding its hand on her shield? How!

“I’ve got the rest.” She said and… her axe raised, a divine art Erika could feel it, the Odium in the air danced as the power of an Aesir was invoked, so much power! Erika had never felt the like, this must be the 6th step! Or even the 7th! She’d known Sigurn was strong but that strong?

“Tanngrisnir come!” Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, Alvis fired again as the troll finally realised what had happened, raging it slammed its arms forward again and again, lightning struck down from the sky burning the rock from its back as Sigurn was suddenly upon its shoulder, the bandits fell as burning embers and the barrage of thunderer shots never ceased.

Erika felt like she was watching gods fight lightning and thunder versus an army killing monster. It was like watching Thor Odinson reborn.

Judging the moment appropriate Erika slumped against the wall and passed out from the pain.