Sir Osbourne leaned in closer, whispering, “Do you see something over there, Your Majesty?”
“No,” I admitted quietly, although I was certainly looking for it. “But there’s no noises coming from those woods.”
Everyone within earshot froze and turned to stare suspiciously into the trees. Ha, they knew exactly what I meant. My people weren’t stupid.
I did keep one eye on my ships, making sure all my troops were getting off properly, as only half were off, from what I saw. While that was fast, it might not be fast enough. A part of me grew alarmed when people started coming out of the buildings. They were all very clearly from Cabbage Patch as well, the emaciation an obvious marker. I would estimate a good one hundred people, and while a few might have been loggers—I say this because of the axes carried on their shoulders—I believed they’d mostly been shipped here. It was very much not good how many people were coming out of the buildings, heading for the docks.
Shit, no, they weren’t going to let us off-load peacefully. They’d hit in the next few minutes and take advantage of the situation. We weren’t in any state to properly fight off a coordinated attack right now. Disembarking in rank and file getspeople off quickly, but we needed a minute to get into formation once we were on land.
“Sir Osbourne,” I said, shifting my grip on the bow. “Get some holy oil or water ready. You too, Sir Collins.”
Sir Collins reached into a pocket even as he asked, “You think we can reverse the possession?”
“Try first. If you have to kill them, do.” It would likely come down to death for a few people. It always did, somehow, and I tried not to feel guilty. Such was the nature of war. You had to safeguard yourself first and foremost.
Near the gangplank of my ship, a yell broke out, and I could see a fight start.
The second we all realized the status quo had broken, all hell broke loose. The people who had been steadily walking near us attacked like the possessed marionettes they were, diving for us, holding anything sharp they could lay hands on. A few targeted me specifically, but my guards intervened before I could even shout a warning.
Fortunately, word had quickly spread, and my people fended off the possessed easily, throwing oil and holy water at them. The possessed people screamed as oil hit skin and I could only hope it meant they could be saved.
I had bigger fish to fry.
I’d seen these tactics before, knew the villagers were meant to draw my attentionthere, to the docks, so I’d turn my back on the woods. The Demon King’s army had employed this tactic routinely. It often worked, sadly, because it was human nature to react to the problem right in front of you.
After surviving this tactic so many times, I knew better. I let my soldiers, priests, knights, and mages focus on the immediate problem.
Titan half reared as I turned him quickly, facing the woods once more, and it was a good thing I did. A flash of clothesdarted between the trees. Someone was moving, and moving quickly.
I lifted my bow, aiming carefully, not where I saw the figure moving but ahead. Just enough ahead my arrow had time to reach the target. It was a tricky thing, firing at something already in motion, but I was an old hand at it. I waited, waited, needing the rightfeeling, for when my instincts knew it was the perfect moment to release.
Now.
I let the arrow loose and knew it was out of my hands. I could only pray it hit.
“Your Majesty, what—” Sir Collins started in confusion.
The woodsexploded.
People sprinted out of the woods, straight for us. Old men, young girls, every gender and age, all with that vacant look in their eyes. Some of them were clearly Ascorian from their dress, another hundred altogether.
I swore. Valentina had been planning this for months if she had brought this many people from Ascor with her. Either she’d had help from other cultists to get all of these people here, or she’d brought them instead of a retinue. I wasn’t sure which. Neither was a good option.
My knights moved to protect my flank, but I ignored them and called out an order to the soldiers nearby. “Remember, try not to kill them! Anoint their foreheads! Hold them down bodily if you have to! Every person saved here is less power for the portal opening!”
Several saluted quickly in acknowledgement, but their focus was on the people only yards away from them.
My attention was past them completely. I had registered the people running, of course, but my full attention was on the person I’d shot. They’d stumbled to a halt when the arrow strucktheir side but, interestingly enough, had just yanked the arrow out and kept running.
Now, some people were strong enough to do this, but normally, a person wouldn’t yank out an arrow and keep running. They’d try to stem the blood by tying something around the wound. Something about the behavior saiddemonto me. Were they a demon host? A possessed soul wouldn’t be able to do that. It meant the demon portal might well be open, and fear swept over me. Was I too late?
Gods above, please tell me I wasn’t too late! I didn’t want to relive this nightmare!
No, no, focus on what you could do in the moment. Taking the demon down, or at least slowing it down, would only help us. I lifted my bow once more, this time even more focused. A headshot would be splendid but might be hard to manage with the cover of the trees.
I saw the slender, short frame in a dark cape running, running, flitting between the trunks of the trees. They slowed for a fraction of a second, distracted by the battle now breaking out. I didn’t take my eyes from them to see how my soldiers fared. I trusted them to do as I had instructed. No, my prey wasthere.
My fingers released the string, the arrow flying free once more. I knew it would hit the second it took to the air and smiled in a grim sort of satisfaction.
