Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Intervals

“They’ve already started,” Dumog said. It was the first time someone talked since the incident, they both hadn’t spoken a word for more than a day.

They were a few kilometers away from the town, its walls were now visible past the tree line. A horn blasted to their left, then a few seconds after that, another one came from their right; this was followed again by a third and fourth one, getting quieter each time.

The two immediately stopped in their tracks and hid nearby. Inside the forest, there wasn’t any movement, not even the bugs moved. It was as if all the wildlife in the area decided to stop existing.

After waiting and getting pricked by the shrubbery for what seemed like hours, no more sounds came after that. They stood up and dusted off their clothes; which was not much for Dumog. Amihan brought her rusty machete out and kept it at the ready. The sight of it made Dumog cringe, a reminder of two lives that were unnecessarily killed. He went on ahead, not bothering to wait for her to finish prepping.

He had only walked a few paces when something blocked the sun behind him, engulfing him in shadow. Whipping his head back, a familiar sight greeted him. A dark red cloud emerged from the trees, gaining size and density as they got higher up in the sky. Though of course, it wasn’t actually a cloud.

The Flying Foxes that shat on him a month ago had left their posts from all around the forest. They flew up and merged together with their kin, making it seem like they were one unit. Erratic and jumpy, their wings never touched each other no matter how close they got. What might seem like a well-practiced maneuver was simply natural for them, a simple reaction and response to how their bodies were structured; they made the most of what they had.

However, Dumog noticed something different about them. Leather bindings wrapped around their torsos, like saddles on a horse. For a race that didn’t use any form of tools or weapons–opting for a natural herbivore lifestyle–the sight of intricate equipment on them raised a lot of questions for Dumog. Wanting answers, he looked over to Amihan, but she had the same expression he had. After congregating in the air, the Foxes moved to another location, the east side of the town away from them.

The two tried to make sense of what happened and what was about to happen. She was about to ask him if he still wanted to enter the town, but looking at his determined eyes, she already knew the answer. Making her question another thing, how can someone as weak as he still has hope in a situation like this.

The only logical and practical thing to do was to run away and alert a stronger force about the attack. Dumog was neither logical nor practical. Frustrated, Amihan didn’t want to think anymore and followed him toward town. Heavy metal boots pounded on the moist forest floor, and he marched on.

 

In front of the west entrance of the town was a whole platoon of Goblin and Kobold warriors standing side by side as if their races hadn’t been fighting since before their grandparents were born. There were only two Wargriders in the group, leaders of sorts but not as high ranking as the giant one. They seemed to be talking to their troops. Nothing Amihan or Dumog could understand, but it was easy to guess that it was a speech to boost morale as hopeful faces sprung up among them after it. Ready to die for the cause. Not too long ago, Amihan was like them; mindlessly lethal towards everyone including herself, for the cause.

The two watched and waited in the shadows of the trees. No other entrances into town, they were forced to wait for an opening. Panic and worry struck them as they heard another series of horns being blown.

Droplets of acid came from above, followed by screams of terror coming from the other side of the walls. The acid rain was contained within the walls, as were the people. The platoons took their positions and killed anyone coming from inside the towns. Another series of horns blasted again, a different tone this time, higher pitched.

After the final horn, the ground started to shift. Dumog picked up a low hum and rumbling from underneath when he put his ear to the ground. Suddenly, a hole formed in the town’s entrance, making it impossible to get in or out. Some people who panicked and tried to escape the town fell into the hole. Their screams of fear changed to that of pain. It was too far and deep for any of them to see what was at the button of it, they could only imagine. The ones who didn’t die in the hole or were killed by the warriors perished from the acid rain.

Dumog wiped away the tears that fell down his face, tears from the frustration and the uselessness he felt. He knew that any form of action he did wouldn’t change a thing.

A stray droplet accidentally dropped past the walls and hit one of the warriors, a Goblin. It slowly died while its comrades laughed and sang songs, they were celebrating their victory early.

Amihan sighed, already regretting what she was about to say. “How confident are you with your jump? Do you think you can land a 20-foot-long jump?”

He looked at her, palms sweating. “I can do it. Do you have a plan?” His long jump when he was a teen was five feet long.

“I’m going to go and grab us something to block the acid, then we sprint past them and jump the gap. I’m betting on them not following us into town. Well, on a lot of things really. The acid is as lethal to them as it is to us,” she explained.

“Okay, I’ll do anything to get inside,” he was determined.

“I have to warn you about two things before we start. First, there’s going to be killing involved. I plan on using their corpses as our shields.”

“This is different, they’re attacking us and they’re not innocent. Unlike Bhob and Gene,” he still hasn’t forgiven her.

“Second,” she continued. “A lot of things could go wrong in this plan. And even if we reach the bar, how sure are you that they’d still be in there and haven’t left? Nox can fly with her broom and I don’t think she’d leave without bringing Jacked along.”

“They’re still in there. If Nox won’t leave Jacked behind, I don’t think he’d leave the bar and the other three behind either,” Dumog believed this.

“And what if they died and the turtle ran off underground, do you still think he’d stay? This could all be a waste of time!”

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“It won’t. Because even if your grim imagination is true, then at least we’d have confirmation about what happened to them. We won’t have to wonder for the rest of our lives and regret our inaction later on.”

“Fine, wait here,” she slipped away and hunted down a suitable meat shield.

Dumog tried to keep up with his eyes, but he lost sight of her almost immediately, even with the hulking bag she wore on her back. He searched everywhere to see where she went, but not a trace. Two thuds came from behind him not long after, two decently sized Kobold warriors that had their throats slashed.

“How did you do that?” He stammered.

“No turning back now. I’ll toss you the body after the jump, you’re going first.”

“What about the dozens of them before the jump?”

“Just do what you’re best at, running away. We sprint through the whole platoon.”

 

They hid behind a bush to the side of the group. The vermin relaxed, watching the acid rain do its thing. Not much for them to do as no more humans were escaping the town. Amihan was beside him, two corpses on her shoulder waiting for him to start running.

“Fuck it!” He stood up and sprinted through.

He went past all of them, too confused as to why a human was trying to get in. The two Wargriders hopped on their partners and chased after him, while Amihan was the one that went after them. She sliced the throat of the Warg nearest to her with the machete. The other one was gaining on Dumog, their moist breaths hitting the back of his neck. Before it could pounce on him, Amihan threw her machete and it struck the Warg’s hind leg causing it to tumble and fall.

They neared the jump, but the bottom of the hole was still unseen even from that distance. A few paces left and he hesitated, slowing down a significant amount. He stopped right before the jump, at the edge of the hole. Looking down, it was a deep ditch with wooden spikes protruding from the bottom of it. Squirming and screaming, a couple of humans were skewered and unable to free themselves. Below them were the Ratfolk with pickaxes and dynamite on hand. Dumog froze.

Amihan already knew this was going to happen. Full speed, she charged forward to Dumog. Like a tin can, she kicked him across the 20-foot-long gap. He landed on his face, a few inches away from a small puddle of acid.

With all her momentum gone from the kick, she had to take a few steps back again. The rest of the warriors were catching up to her. Amihan cleared the gap easily. She threw one of the corpses from her shoulder on top of Dumog.

“Get up quick! I think I memorized the rain’s pattern. And if I do, then another wave is going to drop on this spot in 10 seconds,” she raised him up by the elbow.

His knees almost buckled from the corpse’s weight when she stopped supporting him. The streets were pocked and pitted by the green liquid, forcing them to take awkward and careful steps. One wrong step and that foot was gone. If they move too slowly, the rain could catch up to them and kill them. The bodies above their heads could only take so many hits before it eats through them and burns them next.

“In here!” She kicked a door open, frightening the residents inside.

Hot green liquid dropped from the sky, the open door letting the wave of intense heat inside the building. This caused the occupants to make pained noises.

“Close the door!” One of them shouted.

They propped the broken door back in the doorway and closed it as much as they could. Angry eyes attack them. Not only did they break down one of the few defenses they had, but they also brought in two dead Kobolds inside their homes. The child cried and screamed when she saw the tongue roll out of its scaled mouth. Amihan and Dumog sighed and leaned against the wall, they had to do this until they reached the bar, and the closer they got to the middle the smaller the window they had to move.

 

 

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