Steelforged Legacy 2 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Racing through the darkened forest while chasing an animal that was known for blending in with its surroundings to a supernatural degree was… not as hard as Casey had expected, actually. It helped that the animal in question was taking pains to ensure it did not lose him, and keeping to pathways that it knew would provide the least resistance to Casey while he moved between the trees.

The sounds of fighting continued to echo through the night in the distance behind him, with clashing metal and screams of pain also being punctuated by other, far more intimidating, sounds. He heard the rumble of fire, the crackle of lightning, and the shriek of torn air.

They must have a few drengr who have completed the Mortal Journey, Maude explained to him as Casey ducked under the low branches of a stand of pine trees. Magnus had just surged through the trees without slowing, but Casey didn’t have the same level of confidence that the elk did, nor the innate power that allowed the spirit beast to pass between plants without trace.

“Fun,” Casey panted, turning at an angle to follow Magnus along the curved game trail that the animal led him onto. The crack of an arrow shattering against a nearby tree trunk told him that his pursuers were still hot on his heels.

“Get him!” roared the familiar voice that he recognized as the leader. “I want that lout’s head for spoiling this! Hurry up and bring him down so we can get back to the others!”

“Trying, Jorvi!” snapped another male voice. Casey ducked on instinct and another arrow slammed into a tree trunk directly ahead of him.

Magnus! We need more cover! Maude called to the elk, getting a huff of understanding from the animal. Casey, you need to speed up. If we can draw them far enough away from reinforcements and they are few enough in number, you might be able to take them.

Casey growled, shooting a glance over his shoulder at their pursuers. It was hard to tell in the dim light how many of them there were, but it felt like the entire group of ambushers had wheeled about to chase him.

It’s only four, but they have an elder drengr with them. You need to split their group up before you would stand a chance, Maude warned him as Magnus led them down into a creek bed before turning to race downstream. Up onto that log, don’t splash through the water if you can help it!

Casey followed Maude’s directions as he slid down the bank, turning to run along the top of a fallen pine log that had rolled into the stream. The log bounced unsettlingly underfoot, but it didn’t slide or roll on him, at least.

Magnus had not made a single sound as he cantered through the water. In fact, it was so quiet that Casey honestly wondered if the spirit beast was somehow walking on top of the water instead. When the elk rounded a large boulder and vanished from sight, Casey hurried to follow. 

The chase continued through the forest, Casey following as close to Magnus as he could while the elk did his best to guide them out of their predicament. However, their hunters were clearly skilled as they spread out to continue herding him north. Every time Magnus tried to angle east towards the road, the hunters would show up to cut them off.

It’s no good. They are herding us towards the river, Maude growled after several more minutes of flight. Casey couldn’t really argue with her summation, as it was accurate. The rushing crash of the river to the west had been slowly growing louder and louder as time passed and he knew that soon they’d be exposed on the banks. He couldn’t even try to ford the river if it was shallow enough, as that would leave him exposed to the archer who was getting closer and closer with each of the shots they took.

Do we stand and fight? Casey asked mentally, his lungs still aching from using the new technique and making it even harder to run for a prolonged time.

No, not yet, Maude snapped, her frustration boiling in her tone. If you were to confront them now, they’d just pile onto you in their rage. We need something… a distraction or the like. I hate to wish for such things, but running into a pack of Fomori right now would be ideal.

Casey grimaced. He couldn’t really argue with Maude on that. A pack of the wretched creatures would be perfect to peel off his pursuers and give them someone else to fight with. But for the moment, there was nothing he could do about that. Running into Fomori out here while he was being chased like this was a flight of fancy.

A loud crack overhead made Casey duck, which threw him off balance and rather than land on his face, Casey rolled with it, grunting in pain when his pack dug into his spine.

Should ditch the pack. It’s just slowing me down. Casey thought as he slid through the leaf-litter and dried pine needles that covered the forest floor. But it would take time to pull the pack off, and he’d not thought to do it before alerting the Oaken Horde and having to run for it.

To be honest, the pack wasn’t slowing him at all, his strength had increased to the point where the weight of the leather pack was negligible to him. However, his instincts were still working with his old bodily limits, and they said he would be able to move faster if he did remove the pack.

Ahead of him, the shape of Magnus began to rise upwards, the animal racing up the incline of a hill and Casey gritted his teeth, dragging air into his screaming lungs while he pushed out a bit more speed, wanting to get as much momentum for the incline as possible.

Hitting the slope at a run, Casey bounded upwards as the trees began to thin out. Ahead of him, he could see Magnus cresting the hill and then vanishing down the other side.

Behind him, he could hear shouts from those following him and glanced back to see two people, one shape he believed to be the scarred leader of the troupe and the other the archer, heading up the hill behind him. Flashes of movement in the moonlit brush on either side of the hill told him that the others were racing around to try to cut him off.

A huff from Magnus pulled his attention back forward as Casey reached the peak of the hill, and he looked to find Magnus just on the other side of the crest, standing and waiting for him. The elk stood amidst a small stand of oak trees in a pool of moonlight, looking for all the world like some sort of ancient forest deity.

 Racing towards the elk, it startled Casey when Magnus dipped his head towards him, presenting his rack of antlers threateningly.

He tried to stop, but his downhill momentum was too much to arrest in time at this point. Casey had the barest moment to wonder what it was that had made Magnus turn on him at this point before the elk lunged forward and scooped him up in those antlers.

Then he was airborne, the antlers hooking him under the arms without actually piercing his flesh, while Magnus used his powerful neck to launch Casey upwards into the branches of the nearest oak tree.

Stifling a scream of surprise, Casey snatched at the nearby branches of the tree, catching hold barely in time to prevent himself from falling gracelessly out of the tree.

Oh! He’s such a clever boy! Casey, hold still and hide up here! Magnus was able to use the hill to break line-of-sight with them. If we are lucky, they’ll just charge down the hill and we can drop in behind them. Casey could hear the pride in Maude’s voice and he took a moment to steady himself on the tree branch and look down.

Below, he saw the duo hit the crest of the hill and pause, looking around for a moment before continuing down the hill. Magnus was nowhere to be seen in the trees below him, so Casey had to assume the elk had found somewhere to hide in the meantime.

Wait for them to pass and head down the hill again, Casey. Then we can double back and head to the road. 

Maude’s words slipped through his mind, and Casey glanced over his shoulder towards the river.

The area they had herded him to was actually inside of a large bend in the river. If the gaps in the trees he could see up here were an indication of the river’s path, that was. He’d have to double back a fair way to get out of the curve and be able to make for the road. And all it would take for them to realize he’d dodged them would be for the pursuers to turn around.

Turning back to the front, Casey could see the shape of one of the flying longships angling roughly in this direction, and the light of the moon was enough to make out the red smear on the sail, telling him it was one of the Bronze Fist ships.

No, we divided them. Now it’s time to strike, Casey thought back to Maude while his hand tightened on the hilt of her seax form. We need to thin their numbers, especially if that ship is coming this way to try to help.

Maude didn’t protest at his change in plans. In fact, Casey felt a rising surge of savage glee from his lover.

The pair was passing beneath him now, so Casey prepared himself and stepped clear of the branch to drop down on them from above.

Casey didn’t have far to fall, so he’d had to time this carefully. He landed boots-first on the archer, driving the smaller man to the ground beneath his weight and breaking the man’s bow with a sharp snap. He didn’t hesitate to drive the seax down into the man’s chest either, ending him before the man could make a single noise.

“Shit!” barked the scar-faced man, lashing out at Casey with the longsword in his fist.

The former police-officer was still in motion though, letting his momentum send him into a roll to one side that pulled his seax from the dead man’s chest.

Rolling to his feet, Casey surged at the big man while his weapon was still out wide from the wild strike.

The lunge was one he’d practiced hundreds of times now; it was part of his normal weapons training that Casey went through each night. A simple step through with his right leg while kicking off with his left, leaning forward to extend his right arm out with his elbow locked and wrist tilted to face downwards. Maude’s blade drove into the chainmail the other man was wearing and sheared through the links with a sharp ping to punch into his chest, just to the left of his breastbone and below his heart. The only part of the lunge that was off was the angle, as Casey was downhill of the man, so what should have been a heart strike missed that organ.

Wheezing, the man stumbled backward, swiping with his sword at Casey to drive the smaller man back. Casey went without a fight, yanking Maude free in a gout of bubbling, wheezing blood that he knew would be a lethal wound, as the sucking noise told him that he’d gotten the other man’s lung.

Something that was clearly understood by the other man, as he glared hatefully at Casey from a rapidly paling face. What he did next surprised Casey, as the injured drengr threw the sword in his hand at him.

A flick of his wrist parried the ungainly weapon into the brush and he lunged forward to finish the fight, but the other man’s hands had gone to his belt already and he did something there, seizing something that looked like an axe handle and twisting it towards the sky.

The sound of a shriek preceded a brilliant star of yellow fire rising into the air moments before Casey’s blade took the man in the throat. The other drengr died with a bloody smirk on his lips.

Damn it! That will draw the airship here. Casey, you need to move again! Magnus! Maude swore as Casey felt the surge of qi entering his body again in the wake of his kills. 

The harshness of the world he was in struck at him again, but it rebounded off the iron-hard determination that Casey held up to defend his actions. He’d done this to protect himself. These men had made no illusions of their plans for him when they caught him. Though Casey did wonder how it was that the clans survived in their battles against the Fomori when they skirmished with each other like this.

They don’t do so well, Maude answered him absentmindedly. But even one strong drengr on the Immortal Journey can turn back hundreds of Fomori. As steel sharpens steel, men clash with each other to hone their edges. The smarter clans know better than to throw lives away like this, though.

Casey saw the airship suddenly shift and begin angling towards the lingering flare that hung in the air overhead. He wished there was some way to wipe the betraying blot of light out of the sky, but all he could do was run. If he got far enough away, he might be able to lose the airship.

Casey only paused long enough to slash the pouch from the dead men’s belts, stuffing them into his shoulder bag before racing down the hill.

Magnus emerged from a blackberry bramble a moment later, grunting in annoyance at Casey for spoiling his hiding spot. Casey wasn’t sure how he knew what the elk was thinking at the moment, but that was the impression he got. He didn’t know how Magnus had done it, but the elk had managed to wind some of the bramble into his horns, which had helped disguise him while he was hiding.

To the river, Maude ordered and Casey turned that direction without complaint, though he knew that Maude could hear the worries in his mind as he still held her bared blade. There are still two more hunters in these woods. They will be ahead of you if you keep going north, and that airship will do its best to cut you off to the east to keep us from the road. West and over the river again at the shallow ford will give us the best chance to lose them. As much as I hate to delve back into the Bronze Fist territory already…