From the eastern observation platform, Làmi could see farther into the forest than anyone standing on the road.
What she saw made her reach for the alarm horn.
Beyond the northern rise, a new wave of Vekari moved through the trees. The stream flashed briefly under the moonlight before a mass of chitin-covered bodies obscured it. Some creatures ran upright, others travelled on hooked limbs, and many collided as they scrambled around fallen trunks. There was no discipline in their movements.
There were simply too many.
Làmi had studied reports of previous incursions and helped care for their survivors. She knew the old maps of the roads by heart, and each route now carried families trying to reach safety. In those accounts, the lesser Thralls were driven by impulse and difficult to direct. The sight before her was consistent with that, except for one detail.
The horde was converging on Elune.
Then a pale shape rose above the canopy.
Two translucent wings held an insect-dominant body nearly motionless in the air. Its narrow head turned from the northern barricade towards the eastern wagons, then along the road where the last patients were being moved.
Mosquito lineage, Làmi recognised. A Thrall.
But it was studying the camp.
She raised the horn.
“WINGED VEKARI! NORTH ROAD!”
The warning travelled through the clearing.
Dàre looked up from the retreating defenders. The creature was close enough for a shot, though not close enough to be an easy target. He drew his bow, waited for its movement to settle and released.
The arrow crossed the night.
At the last instant the Vekari shifted.
The arrow continued into a tree behind it. Dàre felt no successful impact, no point upon which his Accretion Spark could build additional force.
The winged creature looked down at him.
Around the northern treeline, the horde changed direction.
Not every Thrall responded at once. The nearest continued rushing forward and jostling each other, but groups farther out turned towards the eastern wagons. Their movement drew others along, until the approach became crowded with creatures all pushing towards the same vulnerable section.
Bọ́dé watched them.
“That’s no ordinary retreat.”
Dàre glanced towards the pale figure.
“No.”
Làmi had already drawn another arrow, but she hesitated when the Vekari’s wings began vibrating faster. A thin sound rose above the clicking horde. Loose leaves moved against the observation platform. Dust lifted from the road below.
“GET DOWN!” Dàre shouted.
Làmi dropped beneath the railing.
A compact burst of pressure struck the eastern watchpost.
The platform swayed. A supporting beam cracked, then pulled free of its fastenings. The upper walkway tipped towards the road, dragging a section of the adjoining timberwork with it.
Làmi caught a hanging rope and swung towards a lower ledge.
Below her, Dàre sheltered behind a supply wagon. Broken boards fell across the eastern passage, and the watchpost collapsed against another wagon. When the dust cleared, a broad opening lay where the defensive line had been.
The horde did not need another invitation.
Thralls scrambled over the wreckage and into the clearing. The nearest guards formed a line, but there was too much open ground to cover. A young defender helped Kọ́lá away from a fallen beam. The spear-bearer favoured one arm but kept his weapon ready as the others cleared the medical lane.
Dàre saw Màíra guiding an apprentice and a patient towards the south. A creature emerged between the wagons, blocking their route. Màíra pushed the apprentice towards the open road and tried to hold the way clear.
More attackers crowded the passage.
Dàre started forward, but the retreating guards filled the gap between them.
He could no longer see Màíra.
His first instinct was to run towards the overturned wagon. His second was to count the families still moving through the road behind him.
“South!” he called to the attendants. “Keep moving!”
He aimed at a Thrall approaching the retreat lane, released and gathered a brief Accretion pulse after the arrow struck. The creature recoiled, opening a narrow path for the next family.
The relief lasted only a moment.
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Above the damaged road, the winged Vekari held position. It did not chase every defender. It watched the opening it had created while the horde rushed through it.
* * *
Làmi reached the lower platform with a sharp breath.
Her hands were unsteady, and the rope had torn part of her glove, but she could still use her bow. She checked the surviving railing and looked across the clearing.
The eastern watchpost had fallen. The northern defensive line was separating into smaller groups, each retreating towards the medical wagons. From above, she could see a path that remained open between the southern supports.
“Dàre!” she called.
He turned towards her.
“The lower passage! Take them through!” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
She pointed, and he raised a hand in acknowledgement.
Then the winged Vekari moved again.
It crossed the clearing with unnerving precision. A guard raised his shield, expecting a direct approach. The creature rose above him and descended along the exposed side of the formation. Another guard tried to intercept it with a spear, but it shifted away before the point arrived.
Neither exchange lasted long.
The defenders scattered towards the retreat lane.
Làmi fired twice to draw its attention away from them. One arrow passed close to the creature. The other struck the wagon beneath it.
The pale head turned towards her.
Làmi moved three paces along the broken railing, drawing the creature’s attention away from the retreating families. She could not stop it from up here, but she could make it choose which target to pursue.
She raised the horn once more.
The creature climbed.
Làmi dropped away from the railing just as another concentrated pressure wave shook the timber above her.
The platform tilted. She reached for the rope, but the structure shifted beneath her hand.
“LÀMI!” Dàre shouted.
He could not see her through the settling dust.
For a moment he heard nothing except the creak of the broken framework. He remembered her at the medical board, insisting that their research should withstand every question. He remembered the way she had laughed at his plans for the hunt.
He started towards the platform.
Bọ́dé stopped him.
“The road, Dàre.”
“I have to—”
“We can’t reach her from here.”
Dàre looked beyond the broken wagon. Thralls had filled the passage, and the last defenders were withdrawing. There was no safe route to the platform.
The fact that Bọ́dé was right did not make it easier.
He turned towards the retreat, raised his bow and provided the cover he could.
* * *
The remaining guards moved in groups of three or four, two shields forward and a spear angled over their shoulders. When the winged Vekari passed overhead, the rear fighter turned to track it. That was the moment the horde rushed the unguarded side.
Dàre saw the pattern and shouted for the rear shield to stay facing the road. The creature feinted towards their heads, then struck the wheel of a wagon beside them. Its axle broke. The wreckage forced the formation apart before anyone could close the gap.
Kọ́lá tried to protect a gap beside a supply cart. He raised his spear at the winged creature and forced it to change direction. But the horde pressed closer from the road behind him, and he could not hold the position.
Bọ́dé shouted for Kọ́lá.
Kọ́lá disappeared from view as the defenders pulled away.
Bọ́dé’s shield arm hung lower with every passing minute. His leg had stiffened, making it difficult for him to turn quickly.
“It’s choosing where we fall,” he said.
A creature darted through the space the wagon had opened. Bọ́dé struck it back with his shield. Three others came after it, and there was nowhere left to plant his injured leg.
And the southern road still held patients who needed help to move.
“Keep going,” Dàre said.
Neither man suggested another stand at the eastern wagons.
* * *
Khepri heard the warning while holding the side of Meka’s carrier steady.
A handler had paused to clear a fallen crate from the path, and Simi was helping an elderly patient step around it. The road was full of families carrying what little they could manage.
“WINGED VEKARI!”
Khepri looked north.
The observation tower had disappeared behind a cloud of dust. A broken wagon lay across the eastern passage, and the Thralls were climbing through the opening.
Something pale moved above them.
He caught himself trying to judge the frequency of its wings.
It was a habit born of years spent asking how things worked. Tonight it frightened him. His thoughts were still capable of wandering towards a fascinating mechanism while people around him were struggling to escape it.
Simi took his wrist.
“We have to leave.” Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“The carrier—”
“Tàlé and the handlers can manage it.”
Khepri looked at Meka. His friend lay very still on the platform, watching the northern road.
“Tàlé?” Simi called.
The physician nodded. “Take your brother. We’ll follow.”
Khepri hesitated until a crash behind the wagons caused the crowd to surge.
Simi pulled him clear before he lost his footing.
They ran.
The road narrowed around two enormous roots. People crowded towards the opening, and the guards attempted to keep a lane available for the carriers. A child had dropped a blanket. Khepri saw it disappear beneath the passing feet.
The clicking grew louder.
Not from one direction alone.
The attackers were finding every route left open by the fall of the eastern watchpost.
* * *
Dàre and Bọ́dé reached the southern medical passage as the first Thralls entered it.
The wagons stood close together here, leaving a narrow channel that a shield could defend more easily than the open clearing.
Bọ́dé took the centre.
“Get them through!”
Dàre fired at an attacker rushing the passage. Once the arrow struck, he used a measured pulse of Accretion to drive it back, clearing a few moments for the next family to pass.
The strain spread through his arm.
He had only a few arrows left, and the Agbo had restored too little Chi to make another long defence possible.
“Last group?” Bọ́dé asked.
Dàre looked towards the bridge. Two children were helping an older woman along the lane. Behind them, handlers guided a patient carrier between the wagons.
“Almost.”
Bọ́dé braced his shield for one more advance.
Dàre made his next arrow count. The attackers recoiled, and the remaining families crossed the open patch of road.
“Now!” Bọ́dé called.
They started after them.
The winged Vekari descended in front of the eastern wagons.
For a heartbeat the guards hesitated. They had prepared to meet another frenzied Thrall. Instead they faced a creature that surveyed their formation before choosing where to move.
The first guard thrust with his spear. The Vekari avoided the point and moved past his shield. A second defender tried to turn towards it, only to be forced backwards by a concentrated gust.
The shield line opened.
“Dàre, go!” Bọ́dé shouted.
He stepped forward to occupy the gap.
The creature shifted towards his injured side. Bọ́dé could not turn his shield quickly enough. Its attack knocked him against the nearby wagon, and the shield slipped from his hand.
“BỌ́DÉ!”
Dàre moved towards his friend, then stopped as the Vekari turned to face him.
Bọ́dé was no longer moving.
Only hours ago he had been complaining about the cost of the hunting wagon. Dàre could almost hear the familiar irritation in his voice. He had travelled beside Dàre for years, challenged him on difficult decisions and helped carry his research through setbacks.
Dàre wanted to reach him.
He knew he could not.
The winged creature stood between them, patient and watchful. His bow was not ready. His Chi was nearly spent. In a direct contest he had no way past it.
Then someone shouted for help farther along the southern lane.
Dàre looked instinctively towards the sound.
The Vekari stepped aside.
It left him a clear passage.
He could not understand why an enemy that had spent the night closing every escape route would now permit him to leave.
But the bridge lay beyond the smoke. His children were somewhere on that road.
He ran.