Empire Builder 4: Breed, Populate, Conquer, page 7
Zito led the other Luminous Blades ahead and to the side. Ben gave the small group a look over as they moved. From what he could see, they didn’t look like much. Like Zito, they were dressed in simple outfits of loose-fitting cloth. The group appeared more like peasants than fearsome fighters despite the longswords they wore hung over their backs in sturdy-looking leather scabbards.
But they were disciplined, moving into position. Once they were there, Ben turned his attention back to the spearmen. The cavalry was just upon them, and Ben knew it was time to act.
“Melody! Lightningkin! Charge the spears with electricity!”
The lightningkin went to work, their hands crackling with current as they ran from spear to spear, charging them with electricity. Melody was able to do the same but faster, using her wand to send out arcs of lightning that jumped from spear tip to spear tip. When they were done, every spear was charged with energy.
Melody and the lightningkin jumped back behind the lines of spearmen just in time for the cavalry to arrive. And Ben was close enough to the Black Army horsemen that he could see their eyes flash with panic through their helmets as they realized what they were about to crash into.
The horsemen collided with the spearmen, the sound a wild clatter of armor against weapons, the cries of the horses rising into the air. Some of the horsemen managed to avoid the spears, driving their blades forward and cutting down the soldiers they’d set their sights upon.
But the majority of horsemen were struck by the spears. Just a touch of the charged spear tips against the armor was all that was needed for them to do their work, the current jumping from the spear tips over to the armor and sending bursts of electricity through the horsemen. The jolts weren’t much, but they were enough to stun the horsemen, knocking them off their steeds and sending them to the sandy earth.
“Finish them off!” Ben shouted.
The spearmen happily went to it, jamming their spearpoints into the gaps of the horsemen’s armor. Jets of blood sprayed up into the air, the cries of pain from the horsemen soon blending into a din of noise.
A few of the horsemen had managed to gain their bearings, stepping back from the battle and readying themselves for defense. But the Luminous Blades didn’t give them a chance. Ben watched as Zito rode his horse toward them. When he was near, he slipped his feet from the stirrups and leaped off, his blade raised over his head and a wild grin on his face.
The blade came down hard and precise into the face of a horseman. Zito landed on the soldier, yanking his blade out as he pushed off with his feet and chose his next target. The other Luminous Blade did similar damage, leaping from their horses and taking down soldier after soldier with flurries of attacks that were quick and exact. The four of them together managed to carve a swath through the remaining horsemen, leaving nothing but death in their wake.
When it was all over, the entirety of the cavalry had been wiped out. The riderless horses, all in a panic, zipped here and there away from the battlefield, leaving behind slain bodies still clad in black armor.
The two strategies had worked like a charm. It was hard to tell exactly, but Ben could sense that between the arrows and the failed charge, he’d cut the Black Army’s numbers by a third. Lyra was still at the front of her army, no doubt doing her best to keep morale up.
No matter how disciplined, Lyra’s army would break eventually. No doubt the remaining troops were wondering what the hell had happened, how their cavalry had been completely wiped out. What had gone from an easy battle was now something more indeterminate.
And Ben was ready to turn it in his favor.
Chapter 8
“Lexi! Split the birdkin and harass their flanks!” Ben yelled. “Zito, form up on me. Swordsmen, prepare to march! And, archers! Prepare another volley!”
The army did as he commanded.
When the archers were ready, Ben shouted out: “Aim… loose!”
More arrows zipped through the sky, landing in the masses of Black Army soldiers and dropping more of them to the ground. The neat, black rectangles of his enemy’s army were beginning to come apart, blurring at the edges.
It was time to strike.
Ben pulled the reins of his horse and rode it in front of his army. The siege soldiers were at his side. He glanced down at his gear—a light breastplate and grieves that he’d chosen for mobility over protection, his head under a leather, studded cap.
When he was ready, he pulled out his blade and raised it to the sky.
“Charge!”
As soon as he said the word, Ben considered that a speech might’ve done a better job at rallying his troops and preparing them for the fight. But in the moment, he wanted speed—he wanted to break the back of the Black Army while they were still scattered.
His swordsmen let out mighty cries as they began rushing toward the enemy. The siege soldiers at his sides stomped forward, each step shaking the ground. Lexi and the rest of her birdkin flew overhead, cutting through the sky and making their way to the Black Army.
Lyra was still at the front. Even from the distance of five hundred feet or so, Ben could tell by her posture that she was determined. That losing wasn’t an option.
Ben’s plan was simple. He’d lead his swordsmen, along with the monsterkin and monster children at their sides, right into the mass of Black Army that remained. He’d take advantage of how scattered they were from the attacks and use that to his advantage to crush their morale.
But on top of that, he had a plan for himself—he’d meet Lyra in battle and cut her down. There was no doubt in his mind that dropping the army’s general would provide enough confusion to make simple the task of soundly winning the battle.
Ben watched as the siege soldiers, slow as their steps might’ve been, crossed the space between the armies and reached the edge of the Black Army. Morgon and the rest of his crew began punching in low swings, the huge, metal fists of the siege soldiers smashing through the front lines of the enemy army.
Nearby soldiers that weren’t pulverized by the siege soldiers threw down their weapons and fled. Ben smirked as he saw the damage they were doing to the Black Army, cries of horror and pain sounding from the front-line troops as the soldiers did their work. For a moment, Ben wondered if they alone would be enough to win the day.
But as he rode, he watched as several of the Black Army troops, having recovered from the shock of the attack, began to leap onto the soldiers and jam their blades into the gaps of the joints. The soldiers, while powerful, were slow, and it was difficult to pull off a soldier once he’d gotten on.
Ben spotted one of the Black Army swordsmen jam his blade into the shoulder joint of one of the soldiers, steam shooting out as he severed some sort of connection. The siege soldier lurched to the side, losing balance and toppling over.
Shit , thought Ben. That’s what’s going to happen to the rest of them if we don’t get in there .
“Double time!” he shouted. “Hit them with everything you’ve got!”
The swordsmen behind him pulled out their blades as they approached the Black Army, yells filling the air as they attacked. Ben and the rest of his council, all on horseback, pulled out their weapons as they joined the charge. Ben set his eyes on one of the Black Army soldiers in front of him, the fight growing nearer and nearer.
Then the armies joined. The clangs and screams of battle filled the air as Ben and his soldiers engaged the Black Army.
Ben pulled back his sword, bringing it hard against the soldier he’d targeted. His arms rang out in pain as the edge of his thin blade slammed into the soldier’s armor, followed by a grinding noise as the blade dragged along the steel. But the edge eventually slid into the gap between the soldier’s arm and shoulder, cutting through the flesh and taking the arm clean off. Blood jetted out as Ben rode past, and when he turned, he finished the job with a blast of energy darts, the small globes of superheated energy enough to punch through the soldier’s armor and out the other side.
From what he could see, the plan had worked. His soldiers crashed into the enemy, taking advantage of their shaken-up state. While the Black Army still possessed a slight numerical advantage, Ben’s soldiers had ferocity on their side. He could see the anger on the faces of his fighters and sensed that the battle was personal for them.
After all, they were finally able to strike back against the army that had threatened their territory.
Swords cut through the air, slicing off limbs, the severed arms and heads and fingers dropping into the dusty ground. Ben fought back from atop his horse, plunging his blade into the nearby enemies. But it wasn’t long before he was swarmed by a small group of Black Army fighters.
One was too quick for him to counter, the soldier jabbing his blade forward and into the chest of his horse. The animal bucked wildly as the blade plunged into it, the force hard enough to throw Ben from the saddle. It all happened quickly—by the time Ben realized what had happened, he was hurtling toward the ground. Only a quick blast of Force Wave was enough to prevent him from landing in such a way that would snap his neck on impact.
But he didn’t land well. He came down hard on his left shoulder, the pain rushing through his body. Ben pushed himself up just in time to see two things—his wounded horse limping off into the distance, and the soldiers who’d brought him down swarming around him, ready to finish the job.
His left shoulder hurt like mad; Ben was half certain it’d been broken or dislocated.
He pulled out his blade with his good hand and quickly charged it with Force Wave. With a quick, horizontal swipe, he sent the nearest three soldiers back with a blast of invisible energy. One to Ben’s right raised his blade in a killing blow, but Ben quickly tapped into Flame Cannon, sending a burst of molten fire in his direction, roasting him where he stood before he was even able to scream.
Two more soldiers bore down on him. Ben checked his mana, seeing that he’d depleted a large portion of it, but he didn’t have any other choice—there were too many soldiers to take on with his blade alone.
One rushed toward him, and Ben tapped into Siphon, pulling out as much of the soldier’s strength as he could while the man moved in for a strike. But by the time he was near enough to deliver a blow, Ben had pulled so much power from him that all he could do was drop into a heap—a heap that fell right onto Ben’s blade. The tip of the sword went up and through the soldier’s head, the tip stopping when it reached the inner bottom of the helmet. Ben pulled the blade out, blood pouring from the wound.
Another soldier approached, and Ben wasted no time in using Siphon to pull out his strength as well. The soldier dropped, his sword falling to the ground as he looked up at Ben with an expression of total panic. The soldier had seen what had happened to his comrade and understood that a similar fate was in store for him.
Ben chose not to drive his blade down for the easy kill that was in reach. Killing in self-defense was one thing—slaughtering a helpless man was another. He instead turned away from the drained soldier just in time to spot another trio of Black Army troops rushing toward him with their swords brandished.
Ben shot Force Wave against the ground at the soldiers’ feet, sending them flying backward and buying himself a bit of time. Battle erupted all around him, screams of pain and cries of battle growing into a deafening din. Ben wanted nothing more than to check on his friends, make sure they were OK, and see if they needed his help. But he knew that, in those moments, the best he could do was to look out for himself.
He’d never been in a battle like that before, totally surrounded by chaos and carnage. Everywhere he looked was one gory scene after the next, limbs being sliced off, throats being cut, and bodies exploding from bursts of magical energy. Now and then the animal cry of a monsterkin would cut through the noise.
It took all Ben had just to concentrate. He chose to focus on the blade in his hands, the three soldiers he’d hit with Force Wave once more bearing down on him. Ben had the strength he’d taken from the other two soldiers flowing through him.
But he wanted more.
The first of the three soldiers closed the distance between him and Ben, jabbing his blade forward. Ben easily side-stepped it, grabbing the soldier’s wrist and giving it a quick twist. The bone cracked, the soldier letting out a yelp of pain as he realized what had happened. Ben dropped his blade and drove his now-free hand forward, his palm slamming into the soldier’s chin. The force was enough that the soldier’s head was knocked back hard enough to rip his head nearly clean off. Blood flooded down, and the soldier dropped.
The remaining two soldiers paused and regarded one another with fearful expressions as if having a silent debate on whether to keep fighting or to flee with their lives. They both made the same decision, turning back toward Ben with determination in their eyes.
Before they could act, however, a figure leaped in from the right and pounced on one of the soldiers. A roaring snarl cut through the air, followed by the screams of the soldier.
It was Nipper.
Ben watched with shock as the monster child sank his massive teeth into the neck of the soldier, tearing his head clean off and killing him on the spot. When the soldier was dead, Nipper chomped through the armor and tore off a large chunk of the soldier’s flesh, chewing it greedily.
Then he turned his sights onto the remaining soldier. The man raised his blade and lunged forward with a battle cry. But a single swipe from Nipper to the side of his head was enough to snap his neck and drop him into a heap.
“Good boy,” Ben said as he stepped over to the beast. “Now, why don’t you find Melody and—”
Not waiting for him to finish, Nipper closed his eyes and bowed his head. At first, Ben wasn’t sure what was happening. But when Nipper let out a low growl, his body growing in size, Ben realized what was taking place—another evolution of his monster child.
Nipper let out a roar, one that changed in pitch, growing deeper as it sounded. Muscles seemed to burst from the animal, ripping through the skin and instantly covering in fur. His teeth grew in length, and his claws expanded until they were the size of curved short swords.
Ben stood back and watched. By the time Nipper was finished transforming, he was huge —easily the size of a jeep. A nearby Black Army soldier, drunk on adrenaline, or just plain drunk, stepped toward Nipper with his spear and jabbed it into the monster’s shoulder. Nipper’s hide was so thick, however, that the spear didn’t even manage to penetrate the skin, instead snapping at the middle. The soldier stood back, his eyes on the broken half of the spear in his hands.
But Nipper didn’t let him consider what had happened for long. Nipper let out a roar, pulling back a paw the size of a briefcase and swiping it into the soldier’s side. The crumple of metal sounded, followed by the soldier flying off his feet and off into the throng of battle. A few more nearby Black Army soldiers who’d witnessed what had happened wasted no time throwing down their weapons and fleeing the field as quickly as they could.
Nipper let out another roar, this one with full power, the sound so loud that Ben had to cover his ears. More Black Army troops fled, and from where Ben stood, it seemed as if the battle was turning in his favor. The morale of the Black Army seemed to be wavering more and more by the second. The sight of a beast the size of a jeep in the middle of their ranks wasn’t helping matters.
Ben stepped over to Nipper, placing his hand on the monster’s snout.
“Alright, bud,” he said. “You ready to win this thing?”
Nipper let out a snort of agreement, the hot air blasting Ben. The monster lowered his head and allowed Ben to climb on top of him. Moments later, Ben was seated on Nipper’s back, his hands gripping the monster’s fur.
From his higher vantage point, he could see much of the battle. To his right, the flank of kin were in the process of wrecking the Black Army from the side, bursts of magical energy zipping here and there, monster kin of various sorts using their animal powers to do as much damage as possible.
To his right, he spotted Lexi and the birdkin attacking from above, jabbing spears into the masses of troops, then zipping out of the way when the soldiers tried to fight back.
Zito and his Luminous Blades carved a swath through the enemy, their swords a blur in front of them as they sliced off limbs and heads with effortless precision. Melody stood behind a line of swordsmen, zapping Black Army troops with her lightning spell and cooking them alive in their armor.
Vinata and Lulu were fighting side-by-side, the former using her nature-based magic to ensnare enemy soldiers in clinging roots while the latter blasted them with powerful jets of water.
The siege soldiers were still doing their work, rampaging through the enemy lines and crushing their victims under foot and fist.
Ben grinned. The battle was turning in his favor. Between the fleeing and slain soldiers, he estimated that only a fifth of the original fighters were left.
And when he spotted Lyra among her soldiers, still on horseback as she fought desperately, he knew it was time to end the fight.
“Nipper!” Ben said, pointing ahead to Lyra. “You see her? That’s where we’re going. Now, move!”
Nipper let out another snort before tearing off, charging through the soldiers and knocking them off their feet as he stormed through the enemy. The Black Army troops flew back and forth like ragdolls as Zipper charged through them. And Ben could only grin at the power his monster now wielded.
He drew closer and closer to Lyra, and it wasn’t long before the general turned to him, panic in her eyes as Ben atop Nipper broke the ranks of her army and charged forth to win the battle once and for all.
But when Ben was just near enough to give Nipper the order to pounce, something unexpected happened. One of the Black Army soldiers, with surprising speed, grabbed a spear from the ground and positioned the bottom of it braced against a large rock, pointing the spear up at an angle right in their direction.
“Nipper!” Ben called, pulling on the fur of the monster to try to get him to move at the last moment.
