Chapter 48.
The monster was giant, almost person-like, though with no sign of humanity. It had four muscular arms and stood on two digitigrade legs. Its skin was a dark purple-black, its head and shoulders adorned with a kind of yellow-white quillish hair. All four arms ended in large, devastating claws, its whole body hunched yet rippling with muscle, its skin leathery and too tight. Its eyes glowed red from behind its canine snout, a mouth full of salivating, sharp teeth.
“What the fuck,” I muttered, my lungs lacking the air to project the words with the terror they warranted.
The mounted woman tugged the creature forward by its chain leash. She scanned the chaos, face impervious and disinterested.
“Get on my back,” Galine said, the slight tremble in her voice betraying her fear.
I didn’t have to be told twice. Throwing myself on top of her with the grace of a baby goat before she had even lowered herself entirely to the ground. Galine took off in a gallop as I clung on for dear life. There was no time for stealth anymore; subtlety was pointless. The treat was here, and we had to go.
Galine galloped up the street. One soldier was dumb enough to get in her way; she knocked his spear out of the way and trampled him with a horrid crunch.
I could make out the castle up ahead. The gate was open, the space clogged by the crowd trying to get into the courtyard.
Galine only picked up speed, leaving civilians and soldiers behind. I felt horrible. We should be helping, but I was too scared to speak up.
That woman…. That monster… I wanted nothing to do with it. And there was nothing I could do. I had a small army of giant centipedes in the middle of the woods, and even if they were here, they would accomplish fuck all. I had no slimes at my disposal; I didn’t dare get close enough to a soldier to even attempt [Digest].
I wasn’t a fighter. I wasn’t prepared for any of this in any capacity. And yet people were dying. And all I could do was hold onto Galine.
We reached the crowd. The vanguard of the soldiers had just arrived, dragging people away from the gate to try to squeeze into the castle.
Where were the defences? The guards? Anyone who could put a stop to this?
A screeching roar echoed from behind us. It sent shivers of dread down my spine. None of this felt real. People were actually hurting and killing each other; a literal monster was fast approaching. This was fucking insanity!
Galine reared up, kicking a soldier in the chest with her hooves. He went flying, tumbling across the ground. He didn’t get back up. I held on for dear life.
People were shouting and begging. I didn’t understand why they couldn’t get it. Then the sun glinted off the metal at just the right angle to see it through the smoke; the interior portcullis had been closed. No one would be going into the castle.
Wait… the portcullis was opening, slowly creaking upwards. What the fuck was going on? If they opened it, then everyone would get in, including enemies. But leaving it closed meant… leaving us all to die. Whoever was manning the gate had decided to let us all in. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing, but I certainly preferred it to being stuck out here.
“Hold on tight,” Galine told me, looking around quickly.
“On our left!” I hissed as the man approached, hefting his axe.
Galine didn’t need to be warned; she was already dodging out of the way and lunging forward. Her kick punched through his shield as he raised it just in time.
I tumbled off of Galine’s back, unable to hold on. Galine’s hoof was stuck, impaled through the wood; she cried out in pain as the man twisted her leg. I pulled myself off the ground, my head spinning.
You took 1 damage.
For falling off the back of a damn centaur, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. But Galine was in trouble; the soldier's axe cut through the flesh of her flank as she kicked to free herself, off balance and vulnerable. She was strong, but she was far from invulnerable.
I didn’t know what to do. I was frozen with fear. With the approaching sounds of that creature. With the shouts from the gate. What the fuck was I supposed to do?!
The soldier brought his axe handle down on Galine’s hoof with a crack. She let out a string of curses as a flailing punch knocked him upside the head. He went stumbling in my direction.
“Digest him!” Candy urged me.
The man was clutching at his helmet, trying to adjust it as he scrambled to his feet right in front of me. With a slight scream of panic at what I was about to do, I pressed my palm to his face and activated [Digest].
The man jerked back with a scream, clutching at his face. Emboldened and fueled solely by adrenaline, I pressed forward. Slapping digestive slime against the back of the hands, which now protected his face.
He knocked my feet out from under me. I hit the ground hard, again.
You took 1 damage.
“Fuckkk,” I groaned, rolling over and trying to push myself up.
The man was fumbling for his axe, face sizzling and bright red as he stared at me with pure hatred. But then Galine loomed over him, fist hitting the back of his neck hard. His head jerked down in a direction that definitely shouldn’t be possible given the presence of a neck.
It was no wonder he promptly crumpled to the ground. Galine was limping; it didn’t stop her from doing a little hop to crush his head with her good hoof.
You have levelled up and gained five stat points to allocate.
I let out a huff, trying to catch my breath. That had fucking sucked.
“Are you okay?” Galine asked me, worried.
“Are you?” I frowned, climbing to my feet. “Is your leg broken? Oh fuck! That's really bad!”
Galine laughed despite her obvious pain. “I’ll live. Let's go,” she insisted, limping towards the gate.
The crowd was finally funnelling through the space, the soldiers entering right alongside them among the chaos. Fuck, that really was bad. I scrambled towards the gate, slowly my pace to stay at Galine’s side. Broken legs were bad; they were really bad. And while I didn’t know much about horses and I was totally extrapolating, I did know they didn’t really heal from a broken leg.
This world had magic; I could only pray the castle had a healer, for Galine’s sake.
The sound of stampeding hooves made me look up. Galloping around the castle wall was a mounted man, in his own set of shiny armour, then another, and another. And then the city guard in their familiar uniforms. Finally, help had arrived, just as archers leaned over the gate to fire down upon the soldiers who had closed in on the defenceless gate.
I took Galine’s hand and pulled her through the chaos. Into the crowd, cramming to get through the gate. Shoved and pressed against by bodies like sardines. The guard formed a wall behind us, stabbing soldiers in the back and protecting the retreat into the castle.
The last thing I glimpsed before my view was drowned out by bodies and we were pulled through the stone arch was a sudden bright flash of light, baby blue, it’s echo hot against my cheeks. Magic, someone was wielding magic.
And given the hell I had just been through… maybe… maybe things would be okay now. I held Galine’s hand tightly as she limped along, her jaw muscle twitching from pain she was doing her best to swallow. The crowd moved us like a river through the old stone wall into the courtyard. More guards were awaiting our arrival, barking out orders and holding weapons at the ready.
“Are you okay?” I asked her again.
She nodded silently. She wasn’t okay by any means, despite her initial attempt to brush it off. She was hurt, badly.
I looked around for any kind of healer, but nothing. We were careened out of the way, through large double doors which led to a very Victorian great hall room. Chandelier, long hanging curtains, carpeted floor.
People began to disperse, sitting on the floor, tossing whatever few belongings they had in various corners. This was apparently our destination, with a few guards standing watch, presumably for any soldiers that had slipped through.
Galine needed a healer, but there were none as far as I could see. Fuck.
I bumped my strength to 15 using all five points. It was my weakest stat, and I desperately needed to catch up my body stats if I was going to have any hope of being able to take care of myself in the future. I couldn’t help but feel like it was my fault she had gotten hurt. I had slowed her down.
And now she was really badly injured. And there was nothing I could do to help. I led her to a spot underneath one of the large stained-glass windows and did my best to help her lie down. I couldn’t remotely support her weight, but I could be there for moral support.
“We’ll get you a healer,” I promised, trying to hide my worry. I needed to figure something out and soon before it somehow got worse.