A Soldier's Life - 446 - The First Wave (edited 8-30-25 +150 words)

Chapter 446: The First Wave

The stone beneath our feet continued to rumble intermittently as two of the gargoyles turned toward us. “Don’t waste your arrows,” I told Blaze. “Focus on the last of the ghoul bats.” Gargoyles were nearly immune to attacks from non-runic weapons. Although we had runic arrows in our supplies, Blaze's new bow couldn’t fire them.

I studied the flying statues, my mind struggling to process the physics. My brain told me their massive wings flapped far too slowly to keep them aloft. I shook my head. It didn't matter how the stone gargoyles flew in this world of magic; only destroying them mattered.

The two that had diverted to our position looked to be humanoid, clad in stone legionnaire armor with snarling lion heads. The one on the left had massive arms ending in dangerous black onyx claws, while the one on my right carried an iron mace in each claw. I moved toward them, away from Blaze, knowing I couldn’t let either get past me.

An arrow pierced the chest of one of the enemies on the left, the shaft sinking halfway in. I quickly turned to see that Blaze had picked up my bow and was using it. Blaze was right-handed while I was left-handed. Blaze’s mastery of using his off-hand demonstrated his skill and adaptability. The runic arrow surprised and disrupted the stone animation, causing it to slow enough for me to engage the clawed variant one-on-one. I layered as many air shields as I could in the path of the one Blaze struck and focused my attack on the other.

Heartseeker hummed through the air as I built momentum for a perfectly timed strike. The dark mithril spearhead parted the rock easily enough as the spear came down. It cut clean through the shoulder and the chest before it stuck in its stone belly.

I tried to leverage the beast into the roof as I had done for the much lighter ghoul bats, but failed. The gargoyle must have outweighed me by at least three times, again causing my brain to question its ability to fly. It was a futile effort to change its course. In the split second I had, I planted the end of the spear in the ground and fell to my back, hoping the stone creature would pass over me.

Heartseeker penetrated further, and a stone claw swiped at my face. A blue flash told me my anther shield was expended, but it still felt like I had been punched in the face. I was now trapped underneath hundreds of pounds of living stone. Fucking idiot, I lambasted myself. A loud crack nearby told me the other gargoyle had hit my layered shields.

The stone wings above me closed around both of us, trapping me. I regretted the decisions I made in this encounter against the unfamiliar foe. Having no other choice, the head and much of the torso of the gargoyle vanished.

Gargoyles, like all golems created by mages, had a core to sustain their magical animation. It could be in the head or buried in the torso, and apparently, I succeeded in seizing it as my aether bottomed out and the gargoyle was now truly petrified. One of the wings crashed into the roof, shattering, while the rest of the body fell away to my left, ripping Heartseeker from my grasp. With the gargoyle's core gone, its body became solid stone, and the spearhead was trapped in it.

Abandoning the spear, I rose to my feet and saw that the other gargoyle was missing a wing, but it was stomping toward Blaze, its back turned to me. I lunged toward it, drawing Corvus’s dagger. With one arm around the lion’s neck, I jabbed the dagger into its chest with the other. The wound was not deep, but it caught its attention. It dropped one of the clubs and reached back for me while spinning. I easily rolled away and got to my feet, popping the wax seal on an aether restorative and drinking it. “Blaze, tell me what is happening,” I said, spitting some bloody saliva from my mouth.

The aether surged into me, allowing me to grab Bharok’s hammer from my dimensional space. Bladed weapons weren’t effective against gargoyles, but I chose Heartseeker because it was special. The building trembled once more under our feet as Blaze reported. “I don’t see any new waves. The wraiths are contained, and one gargoyle is destroyed. Maybe about fifteen ghoul bats remain, but they’re slowing down as the brightening day begins.” It was still overcast, yet even indirect light affected the undead. Blaze had retrieved his runic bow and went to bolster the defense, while I focused on the gargoyle.

The injured gargoyle and I circled, its heavy steps echoing on the stone as it appeared to have doubts. I sent out an earth pulse, and immediately found where the gargoyle’s core was located—deep in the chest beneath the sternum.

I tested the unfamiliar weapon in my hand. It was just a big sledgehammer. How hard could it be to swing it? As the gargoyle prepared its charge, I yelled again to Blaze, “How are the defenses holding?” If the news were bad, I would kill the gargoyle with the dimensional space and rush to help.

“I only noticed five Sentinels fall,” Blaze yelled as he tracked a creature and released an arrow into the sky, this one followed by a gull’s cries. The gargoyle charged me and was hampered by a pair of air shields. The hammer came down on the wrist, shattering the clawed hand. While it was perplexed at invisible barriers, I transitioned into a horizontal swing, and the hammer cracked into the side, spraying stone chips into my face.

“Check on the ships if you can,” I shouted as I continued the dance with the gargoyle. It couldn’t seem to figure out the air shields, and every time it was hindered by one, I was able to dash in and land a blow. After three blows, spidering cracks started to form on the torso.

“The ships are empty! The soulless must be inside Sanctuary!” Blaze said worriedly. And whatever soldiers the Nashasari had below decks as well, I thought.

Two hammer strikes later, the gargoyle crumbled into large pieces. A fist-sized onyx stone with blue veins was in the rubble. I picked it up and vanished it. The sky had turned a light gray, and only a handful of gulls remained spying on us.

Surveying the plateau, five separate battles raged against gargoyles, and one wraith cloud was being held in place by four necromancers. “Did they handle the other wraith?” I asked as I took Heartseeker and a block of stone encasing the spearhead into my space. There would be time later to free it from the stone. I raced for the ladder with Blaze behind me, as we both scanned the field of battle.

“Yes, those two necromancers took care of it,” Blaze pointed. Blaze was indicating the Castilian, and one of the men I recognized from Fenlorian’s council was racing to help against the other wraith.

“Help the wounded while I help with the gargoyles,” I said to Blaze above me on the ladder. I dropped the last eight feet of the ladder and raced into the melee. I kept an eye on the subjugation of the wraith, but it was well in hand. I managed to help destroy two more of the stone creatures with Bharok’s hammer and collected four more cores from among all the gargoyles. I didn’t know if the collector would work on them, but I could try later.

The wraith was handled, and I found an exhausted Jalorien. The Castellan’s eyes were sunken, and his flesh was pale. “Are the wraiths destroyed?” I asked as I handed him a waterskin. In response, Sanctuary rumbled under our feet from the battle going on far below.

“One escaped by casting itself over the side, and the other is permanently destroyed,” he said after taking a long pull.

“And what is happening below?” I asked more pressingly.

The Castellion grimaced. “They knew exactly where to blast into walls and coordinated the breaches.” He leaned in a little closer and nodded to the smoke rising up one side of Sanctuary. “They burned all our ships. The only way off of Sanctuary is if we take one of theirs or the Salty Widow returns.” It was a little bit of a shock to hear it, but not a surprise. I knew some of the storerooms had lumber, but building a new ship would take months.

“What of our losses below?” I asked. I was considering joining the fight below.

“We lost nine up here, and I cannot speak for the defense below. I only know they have retreated to the third level and are bleeding the soulless. Fenlorian’s last message was that the Nashasari had not joined the fight. He did say that the apparent Brotherhood leader had explored the dungeon entrance and was incensed that the dungeon entrance was gone. He clearly had plans for the dungeon.” The elf got back on his feet and started giving orders to clean up and prepare for tomorrow night. He didn’t think this was the last attack.

I interrupted him for a moment as I had not been given an order. “Should I go and help?”

His elven hand rested on my shoulder. “Fenlorian will ask for aid when he needs it, boy. We know you are capable, but the plan is sound, and a fighting retreat will bleed them until we can counter. The undead lords have yet to put their full weight into the attack.”

“It could be the Emperor is their only ally,” Lepidus said. I didn’t know where the man came from as I had not seen him at all during the defense.

“The vampyres control the soulless,” I said simply.

“And they are treated like a trade commodity among the lords,” Lepidus replied succinctly. “Every gargoyle tonight was his creation, and I suspect those wraiths were his as well. One was definitely born from Julius Rufus, one of his trusted centurions in life, and once a friend of mine.” I reassessed the possibility that Lepidus was closer to the fighting than I had given him credit for.

“And the ghoul bats?” The Castellion asked, seeming to put some stock in Lepidus’s claims.

“I think he was harvesting both dungeons with the soulless. Preparing for this day. The dead ghoul bats I inspected were fresh—no more than a month old,” Lepidus stated in his monotone.

“Then the alliance with the Brotherhood is recent?” the Castilian asked, some hope in his voice. If it was just one of the undead lords we were fighting, then that was phenomenal news as it gave us hope. “Did you tell the High Sentinel your thoughts?”

“He knows my thoughts, but this,” he gestured at the death and destruction on the plateau, “reinforces them.”

“I will send him a message,” the Castilian said, moving off to find a mage for the sending.

“Where were you during the attack?” I asked the ancient medicus.

He tilted his head slightly at my accusation. “I was monitoring the runic arrays for other undead incursions.” Sanctuary rumbled again beneath our feet. I just nodded slowly and moved to help with the cleanup. The ghoul bats and dead gulls were being tossed over the side, while the rubble from the gargoyles was being cleared.

When they were allowed, the children ran food out to the defenders. I didn’t see Evie among the runners, but knew she was safe. Then the injured started to arrive from below. Sentinels missing arms, or scarred with magical wounds that could not be healed. Jalorien sent a few men from the plateau to replace the wounded Sentinels, but didn’t weaken our forces drastically. We were expecting an assault of similar strength tonight.

As midday passed, the rumbles below became less frequent. I looked for the Castellion to see if he knew why. He was in a quiet conversation with a Sentinel who had acid burns on the right side of his face, and it looked like his eye had been melted away. His good eye was unfocused, and I guessed he had taken something strong for the pain. Lepidus was nearby but didn’t appear to be engaged in the conversation.

The Castellion looked at me as I approached and understood why I was there. I had gotten snippets during the day, but I was not part of the communications between the High Sentinel and the Castellion. “The soulless are nearly expended. It is expected that the Nashasari and their mages will be making their push soon,” the Castilian said.

“No,” Lepidus interrupted the conversation. If the man appeared anxious without any change in voice or body language, then he definitely was. “The Emperor has come and is raising the soulless dead.”

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