Lemony walked near the back of the group. The wind was getting colder as they got closer to the fort.
Up front, Fiji was using his massive stone arms to guide the ten children, keeping them away from the steep edges of the cliffs. Ve was walking shoulder to shoulder with Koro, letting the big warrior lean on him whenever he stumbled. Lastly, the gunslinger was carrying Pippin tucked under his arm.
"Why don't you just use the portals? It would be so much easier than walking!" Pippin muttered, looking up at the man.
I mean, I know it was terrifying entering it earlier, but I guess...
The gunslinger let out a dry huff and adjusted his hat.
"Keep talking, kid. Maybe the cold will freeze your jaw shut and give us all some peace."
Pippin huffed and crossed his arms. The rest of the pack was talking. Everyone was contributing something to the group. Except for one grumpy cat walking in the dark.
I am not special, Lemony thought.
He looked at the others. Pippin had literally bargained with a god. Koro and Sissy were the backbone of the survivors. Fiji had his healing concoctions. Ve was the one who had kept the children safe and helped Koro wake up.
What did I do? I just got beaten up by Malphas. I didn't save anyone. I'm just here. And if I don't kill Malphas tonight, I'll get tortured for eternity too.
The heavy thoughts weighed on him as they got closer to the black walls of Fort Rib.
Sissy was sitting on top of Fiji's shoulder, looking down at the trail.
She noticed Lemony trailing behind.
"Hey, Lemony! How are you holding up?"
Lemony forced a stiff smile.
"I'm fine. Pretty happy, actually. We're going to escape this place."
Sissy shifted her weight, looking down at her bandaged, broken leg. She bit her lip and looked at the cat walking in the snow.
"You know, I haven't even thanked you properly yet. For saving me during the fall. The only reason I am breathing right now is because of you."
She squinted at him, her brow furrowing. She clearly remembered how destroyed he had looked after the fall. He should have been dead.
"How did you even survive that, Lemony? How are you walking right now?"
Lemony shrugged, his eyes fixed on the path.
"It's nothing. A secret, perhaps. Not anyone, not even you, would know."
Sissy laughed softly and shook her head.
"Alright, grumpy cat. Keep your secrets."
The gunslinger suddenly stopped walking. He raised a hand, and the entire group came to a halt. In the distance, the black iron spikes of Fort Rib pierced the dark sky. Torches were flickering along the battlements.
"We are near the fort," the gunslinger said, his voice dropping to a rough whisper.
"That's it. There is a Rank 3 Veteran stationed inside, so we need to be careful. One wrong move and we are all dead before we reach the gate."
Ve tightened his grip on his weapon, looking at the high walls.
"So what is the plan then? We can't just knock on the front door."
The gunslinger and Pippin looked at each other at the exact same time. A slow, identical smile crept onto both of their faces.
Pippin pulled a crumpled piece of parchment out of his vest. It was the architectural map of Fort Rib that he had swiped during the chaos of the morning invasion. He smoothed it out on a flat rock while the others huddled around.
---
The cold wind whipped against the jagged peaks as the group split up. Ve and Koro stayed behind, their eyes scanning the dark to make sure no scavengers got near the ten huddling children.
Further down the slope, the main assault team pressed closer to the black iron walls of Fort Rib. Sissy took a deep breath.
"You got this, Sissy," Lemony said quietly.
"I know, grumpy cat. Just keep your eyes peeled for my signal," she replied.
With a soft flutter, she lifted off the ground. She stayed low, using the jagged rocks and the heavy snow clouds for cover. She flew toward the tallest lighthouse on the eastern wall. Her heart hammered against her ribs, but she managed to land on the icy roof without making a sound. No alarms blared.
She leaned over the edge, squinting through the dark to get a good count of the enemy.
Alright, let's see what we're working with here. Koro really thinned them out earlier, thank goodness.
There were far fewer scavengers patrolling the courtyards than she expected. Most of the foot soldiers were dead or had fled after the morning raid. But then her eyes locked onto the central courtyard.
Sitting on a heavy iron chair was the Rank 3 Veteran. It was a terrifying, two legged centaur. He was leaning forward, talking quietly to the wolf leader of the scavengers.
Right next to the centaur stood another creature. It was small, a Rank 1 Foundling just like Pippin. She looked like a ball of fluffy, wooly fur, but she was holding a strange, metallic device strapped to her arm.
Sissy scanned the rest of the battlements but couldn't see any other movement. Satisfied, she looked down at the lighthouse roof. There was a small, rusted vent pipe sticking out of the slate. It was just wide enough for her to squeeze through. She folded her wings tight and wiggled inside.
Sliding down the shaft, she dropped onto the stone floor of the lighthouse's middle chamber. Standing over three fresh scavenger corpses were Pippin and the gunslinger. The gunslinger was wiping a dark red smear off his leather glove.
"You took your time," the gunslinger said, not looking up.
"Hey, flying in a blizzard with shorter wings isn't easy!" Sissy huffed, brushing dust off her shoulders.
"But I have the layout. Listen up, there aren't many grunts left out there. Koro did a number on them this morning."
Pippin's ears perked up.
"What about the big guy? The Rank 3?"
"He's in the courtyard. He's sitting with the wolf leader. But there is another one with him. A wooly little girl, a Foundling. She has some kind of mechanical weapon strapped to her arm. I didn't see anyone else, though. If we move now, we can blind them."
Pippin looked at the map on the table, then up at the gunslinger.
"All four lighthouses at each corner of the fort are isolated. If we take this one, we control the high ground. Sissy, go get the others. Tell them to enter through the base of the lighthouse."
"Yes, sir!" Sissy said, throwing a mock salute.
She slipped out of a side window and glided down to the darkness where Lemony, Fiji, and the others were waiting. She landed softly in the snow, her breath visible in the freezing air.
"The lighthouse is clear. The gunslinger and Pippin already cleared the inside. We need to move silently through the base door and get to the top. The courtyard is visible from there, but we have to be quiet."
Lemony nodded.
"Let's move."
Fiji stomped softly, his stone feet crunching as he led the single-file line toward the heavy wooden door at the base of the tower. They slipped inside one by one, clicking the heavy iron latch shut behind them.
"Keep it quiet," Lemony whispered as they looked at the steep, winding stone staircase.
They began the long climb up the spiral stairs, their breaths heavy in the enclosed space. Every shadow felt like an enemy, but they kept climbing toward the top where Pippin and the gunslinger were waiting to launch the ambush.
The wind howled through the high windows of the lighthouse as the last of them reached the top. Lemony leaned against the cold brick, catching his breath, while Fiji sat on a stone crate near the door.
Sitting on a high wooden chair in the center of the room, looking as relaxed as a noble in a lounge, was the gunslinger. He didn't even look up as they entered. His eyes were fixed on the tattered brim of his hat.
"I've already cleared out the patrols in the isolated zones. The archers on the side walls are gone. There are probably only a handful of guards left in the inner courtyard."
"Really? You did that all by yourself while we were climbing?" Sissy whispered.
The gunslinger didn't answer directly. He just stood up, resting his hand on the butt of his pistol.
"The only plausible way to end this theater is to target the low-ranked commanders first. Once they are gone, we can shatter the anchor of this realm and all of you can finally escape this mountain."
He looked at each of them, his gaze lingering on Lemony's bandaged knuckles, then on Sissy's wings.
"Prepare yourselves," the gunslinger muttered.
"The curtain is about to rise."
---
Down in the snowy courtyard, the Rank 3 Veteran sat tall in his heavy iron chair. Sir Lancelot was a imposing figure, alongside his human upper body which was gleaming with silver armor that fused perfectly on his bipedal base. He was stroking his chin, looking down at the scavenger wolf leader.
"The Veridian Kingdom is growing weary of your reports, Lupine. They expect the harvesting of the abyss to yield dividends, not excuses. To govern a territory of chaos requires an iron hand, not whimpers about few broken slaves."
The wolf leader bowed his head.
"But sir Lancelot, we didn't expect the trashes itself to fight all in against us. The sacrifices are becoming violent!"
Standing beside Lancelot was the small, wooly Foundling. She adjusted the heavy, brass-and-copper device strapped to her forearm, her eyes sharp. Her name was Pip, and despite her small size, she didn't look afraid of the giant centaur.
"But, worry not, my device is calibrated, Sir Lancelot. If the slaves try to breach the gates again, I can fry their nervous systems in a single pulse."
"Exquisite, Pip. The ingenuity of the lower ranks always fascinates me when it is bent toward obedience."
A low-ranked scavenger soldier nervously approached the table, carrying a silver tray with a steaming porcelain cup.
"Your tea, Sir Lancelot."
Lancelot smiled majestically and reached for the cup. He brought it to his lips, but his smile instantly vanished. He didn't drink. He felt the heat, the unnatural scent of the steam.
"Insolent filth!" Lancelot roared.
He threw the boiling tea directly into the face of the servant. The scavenger shrieked as the hot liquid scalded his snout, but as he stumbled back, his body suddenly shimmered. The fur melted away, and the uniform dissolved into a long, leather duster coat.
The servant wasn't a scavenger at all.
"Lancelot... It's me again," the gunslinger said, stepping over the dropped silver tray.
Lancelot's front hooves reared up as he gripped the hilt of his massive light sword.
"You! The stray dog from the waste! You dare crawl back into my courtyard to die a second time?"
The gunslinger simply let out a short, dry laugh. He didn't pull his gun. He just looked at the wolf leader and the wooly girl.
"I didn't come here to die. I came here to make sure you do."
Lancelot laughed, the sound echoing off the stone walls of Fort Rib.
"A bold jest for a dying man! What could a single Rank 2 Scion possibly do against the might of a Veridian Veteran?"
The gunslinger didn't answer with words. He slowly raised his right hand, his eyes cold under the brim of his hat.
He snapped his fingers.
The air ripped open.
Thousands of white teeth exploded out of a dozen blue portals that tore through the space around them. They hissed through the air like a wall of shrapnel.
"Get down!" Pip screamed, raising her mechanical shield arm.
Unfortunately, the wolf leader didn't have time to react. He was shredded instantly, his body collapsing into the snow as a dozen bone teeth pierced his chest.
Lancelot roared as he swung his massive sword in a circle, parrying the projectiles, but the sheer volume was too much. Several teeth bit into his flank and shoulder.
Pip, however, was blown backward with her wooly fur singed and her mechanical arm smoking from the impact.
Before the smoke could even clear, a shadow dropped from the sky.
Sissy dived from the lighthouse tower. She didn't go for the giant centaur. She locked her eyes on the wounded Pip.
Sweeping down, Sissy snatched the wooly girl by the collar of her jacket and flew straight up, soaring over the fortress walls and dropping her onto the snowy clearing outside the fort.
Pip rolled through the snow, coughing as she clutched her sparking device arm. She scrambled to her feet, staring up at the moth girl who was landing a few feet away.
"Who are you!?" Pip shrieked.
Sissy landed gracefully. She just let out a soft, mocking laugh.
From the shadows of the rocks behind Sissy, a figure stepped out.
Lemony stretched his arms coldly, as his body was covered in messy white bandages from his fight with the god.
The gunslinger had given them their orders.
The Rank 3 was his.
The Rank 1 girl was theirs.
"You're the target," Lemony said, cracking his neck.
This was the core of Pippin and the gunslinger's plan. The gunslinger had used his blue portals to blink around the fort, silently picking off the scavenger guards one by one. The goal was to take out the low-ranked soldiers first and then ambush the wolf leader and the Rank 1 girl. If the gunslinger couldn't kill them both immediately, Sissy and Lemony would isolate whoever survived. Since the wolf leader was dead and the wooly girl was only injured, it was time for Sissy and Lemony to take her on.
Back in the courtyard, the real monster was left for the heavy hitters. Fiji, Pippin, and the gunslinger were left to deal with the Rank 3 Veteran centaur. It was a calculated risk. Fiji was a massive, unknown ancient being with healing potions. Pippin could provide tactical insight on the fly. The gunslinger would lead the charge using his portal displacements, and white teeth bullets.
With all three working together, they could stand on equal footing with the centaur.
But outside the walls, Lemony and Sissy were staring down the barrel of a metallic nightmare. Pip growled, her wooly fur puffing out in rage as she aimed the brass device strapped to her arm directly at Lemony.
The tip of the machine whirred to life, glowing with a blinding white light.
"Lemony, move!" Sissy screamed.
She slammed her weight into Lemony, knocking him flat into the snow. A beam of white energy tore through the air where his head had been a millisecond ago. The beam hit a distant boulder, vaporizing the stone into fine powder.
I almost died. If she hits me with that once, I'm a pile of ash.
"Thank you, Sissy," Lemony said, pushing himself up from the snow.
"You're welcome, grumpy cat! Don't let your guard down!"
Pip didn't fire immediately again. She stepped forward, her voice high and annoying.
"You think you can just dodge the Photon Accelerator? It utilizes a pressurized core of aether to compress light particles into a thermal stream! The atmospheric friction alone should have melted your fur! You cannot defeat science with primitive claws!"
Sissy blinked, her wings twitching in confusion.
"What did she just say? Something about light and air pressure? Lemony, do you speak nerd?"
"She means it's a hot flashlight that takes a while to charge," Lemony said, keeping his eyes on Pip's arm.
"How dare you summarize my life's work like that!" Pip shrieked.
She fired again. Lemony threw himself to the left, the beam scoring the ice. As he rolled, he scooped up a heavy handful of snow and hurled it right into Pip's face.
The snow blinded her for a split second.
Sissy saw the opening and swooped in from the sky, her fist cocked back. She punched Pip right in the cheek, but the impact felt wrong. It felt like punching a massive bag of feathers. There was no solid bone beneath.
Instead of Pip flying back, the kinetic energy rebounded, and Sissy was sent tumbling backward into the drifts.
That must be her Heraldic power, Lemony thought, watching Sissy roll. It's a passive ability. Her skin and fat are so soft and dense that they absorb physical blows like a cushion. We can't punch her normally.
Lemony didn't wait for her to recover. He ran forward, scooping up another snowball. He threw it to distract her, but she ducked under it. He lunged to punch her, but Pip stepped aside with smooth, calculated footwork.
She grabbed Lemony's wrist, twisting his arm behind his back, and shoved the whirring machine right against his temple.
Lemony ripped his arm free, falling backward just as another beam of white light scorched the air, singeing the tips of his ears.
I almost died again! This girl is insane!
Pip didn't let him breathe. She stepped inside his guard and delivered a heavy, military-grade side-kick to his stomach. Lemony was lifted off his feet and sent skidding across the frozen dirt.
It was clear that in terms of raw fighting abilities, she was much stronger than both of them. She had professional training from the Veridian military.
Lemony got to his feet, panting. He scooped up another snowball and threw it. Pip didn't even flinch this time. She just leaned her head to the side, letting it sail past. Lemony jumped at her, his claws bared, while Sissy swooped in from the side.
Pip blocked Sissy's kick with her mechanical forearm. Then she ducked under Lemony's swipe and punched him square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. She swung her arm up, the barrel of the machine glowing as she aimed at Sissy in the sky.
Sissy flapped her wings frantically, diving out of the way just as the beam shot past.
Lemony saw the opportunity. While Pip was focused on the sky, he lunged from the snow. He didn't punch her.
Instead, his hands wrapped around the base of the brass device. His fingers found a thick, exposed copper cord running along the side.
He gripped it tight and pulled with every ounce of strength he had left.
"What're you doing!!!??" Pip shrieked.
The cord ripped free with a shower of sparks. The internal hum of the machine turned into a high-pitched, dying whine.
BOOM!
The overload was instantaneous. The device exploded right on Pip's arm. And then, a cloud of black smoke and blue electricity erupted, sending both Lemony and Pip flying in opposite directions.
"Lemony!"
Sissy dived through the black smoke, her wings beating frantically against the ash. She skidded through the snow, finding Lemony lying on his back. He was a mess. Fresh blood was seeping through his old bandages, and his fur was scorched from the explosion. Sissy's hands shook as she reached for him.
"You're bleeding everywhere! We need to get you out of here," Sissy said, panicking.
Lemony coughed, a spray of red hitting the white snow.
"Fiji... Give me the bottle."
Before the raid, Fiji had spent an hour filling glass vials with his own glowing, regenerative bodily fluids. It was a slow process, but he had managed to give a single bottle to each team. Sissy scrambled, her fingers fumbling with her pouch until she pulled out the corked glass.
She popped the top. A warm, terrestrial scent filled the freezing air. But before she could tip it into Lemony's mouth, a shadow loomed over them.
Pip was still standing. Her left arm was a shredded mess of burnt wool and ruined metal, but her legs were fine. She launched herself forward, her heavy boot cocked back for a lethal flying kick.
Sissy gasped.
She grabbed Lemony by the scruff of his neck and leaped into the air. She dragged his dead weight upward just as Pip's boot slammed into the snow where they had been. The impact shattered the glass vial.
The glowing green liquid spilled uselessly into the dirt, freezing instantly.
"No!" Sissy shrieked from the air.
Lemony saw the shattered glass. He closed his eyes for a second, feeling the exhaustion deep in his bones.
"It doesn't matter. Drop me back down, Sissy. We aren't done yet."
"Are you insane? You can barely stand!"
"Just drop me! I don't care about the pain!"
I have to do this for myself, Lemony thought as the wind whipped his face. If I don't, I can't kill Malphas, or even, I won't live truthfully.
Sissy bit her lip, seeing the pure desperation in his eyes. She banked hard and let go of his collar, dropping him softly into a snowdrift. He rolled to his feet, swaying slightly as he faced Pip.
It was round two.
Pip looked just as bad as he did. Blood was dripping down her forehead from a shrapnel cut, painting her white wool a dark crimson. But Lemony was running on fumes. Ever since this nightmare started, he had been running, fighting, and bleeding without a single hour of sleep.
He reached into his small belt pouch. His fingers brushed against a thin, dried strip of flesh. It was the vampire bat strand he had harvested earlier.
He didn't hesitate. He stuffed the strand into his mouth and chewed.
The effect was instantaneous.
It was pure, raw aggression forced into a dying body. Lemony's eyes dilated until they were pitch black. He fell to his hands and knees, letting out a guttural, tearing scream that echoed off the fortress walls. His muscles swelled, snapping the tight white bandages around his chest.
"ARGH!"
He bent over and vomited a thick puddle of dark blood onto the snow. His body was rejecting the foreign essence, but the power was already flowing through his veins.
Sissy landed gracefully beside him.
"Lemony! What did you just eat? Are you okay?"
Lemony wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand. He stood up, and this time, he didn't sway.
His posture was stiff and his skin felt thick.
"I'm fine."
With the vampire strand coursing through him, his strength and body was artificially boosted. He could barely breathe, and his heart felt like it was going to explode out of his ribcage, but he could fight.
Having to stand up is enough.