A Soldier's Life - 401 - Buggers (edited 6-2-25 +150 words)

Chapter 401: Buggers

Blaze opened a barrel and started to refill his quivers without asking. He was actually spending a few seconds to inspect each arrow before sliding them into place. He had defended enough walls to know he had time.

Kyrenic dumped our bag of heads onto the wall. He looked up, impressed. “You got one of the cursed harpies?”

“Two, actually. But Blaze didn’t want to take the time to collect the head of the other,” I said, watching the woods. Since we were speaking Elvish, Blaze was not aware of the slander. I could spot a dozen distant torches moving deep in the woods. I didn’t like the fact that they were moving in a long line and seemed to be organized. Kyrenic stood next to me. “What can we expect?”

“I counted ten of the big brutes and more than seventy of the smaller ones. There could have been more inside the buildings, though.” I looked over at Kyrenic, “They killed dozens of people and mounted their heads on stakes outside the fort. They are not going to give quarter.”

Kyrenic nodded somberly. “Weapons?” Kyrenic asked for more details on our foes.

I recalled what I had seen in the fighting ring. “The dungeon steel swords for the chieftains. Wooden spears for the lessers. A number of the lesser confiscated weapons from their victims—I noticed a few had maces and others swords.” I looked back at the woods. “Bugbears have good night sight and will attack before the sun rises,” I informed him. As if my words prophesied it, the torches began to wink out. Once again, I wished we had brought Lesna along as she could have cast light globes over the field of battle, neutralizing their advantage. “Do you have any mages with the light spell?” I asked hopefully.

Kyrenic turned and shouted in the kingdom’s language, and two mages were summoned to cast light at the base of the wall. Kyrenic did not stop there; he began directing the locals to take defensive positions as they stumbled, blurry-eyed, to the walls. Women and children began hauling water from the well in town to fill barrels and troughs, while others lit every light post they could find. He somehow made his orders sound inspirational as the men started to appear eager and energized for the fight. It had to be the man’s aura, as they obeyed his commands without question and with alacrity. The town was a hive of activity as it readied for the inevitable assault.

When Kyrenic looked satisfied, he turned back to me, asking in sincerity, “Will you help defend?”

I think he was asking if I would follow his orders. Blaze had finished selecting his arrows and was at my side. “We will go where I think we are most needed,” I replied, and Kyrenic nodded gratefully. He moved along the ramparts to talk and inspire the other men defending the walls. I addressed Blaze, “I think that corner is the weakest. If the harpies show themselves, prioritize them.” Blaze nodded, and we walked to the northeastern corner of the wall. Two young nervous men in padded armor were staring off into the darkness. They moved to let Blaze set up, and Blaze’s calmness and confidence calmed the boys.

Blaze looked bored as he waited for the assault. “You are covered in harpy blood,” Blaze reminded me.

“There will be time for a bath after,” I retorted. We both chuckled, but the young men looked confused at our good humor.

We didn’t have to wait long as the wood line began to stir. There were just under a hundred yards of tilled cropland from the walls to the woods. Too far for an archer to hit the shadowy figures emerging. “Dragon shit, they all have shields,” I cursed as my mind sorted out the shape of the shadows.

The wisps in the distance had descended from the sky and were beginning to wink out as they disappeared into the ground. That meant we likely had about an hour until dawn. A war cry erupted from the bugbears and was soon echoed throughout the woods. A strong scent of urine hit me and I guessed one of the boys near us pissed himself. Even though he couldn’t understand me, I told him confidently, “Don’t worry, they won’t reach the walls.” It seemed to help. The black spear was now in my hands, with magebane in my dimensional space as the shadows broke from the trees.

When the bugbears crossed half the distance, screaming all the way, the bows along the wall started to twang in discordant harmony. One mage in the center of the wall started releasing humming bolts of aether. The magical attack flashed across the gap and illuminated the bugbears as they burned into them. The creatures were ugly with thick brown fur covering their goblinoid features. It was concerning that the arrows that managed to bypass their shields barely slowed the rush. Bugbears with arrows in their thighs and shoulders seemed unperturbed and hindered in their charge.

Blaze released his first arrow, piercing the throat of a bugbear fifty paces away. It clutched at the shaft and fell to the ground, rolling in agony. Unfortunately, the town guards couldn’t match Blaze’s accuracy, and most of their arrows missed or struck wooden shields. I waited for my turn, studying the field—estimating that over sixty were in the wave. When the first bugbear got close enough, I noticed its oversized wedge-shaped ears looked to be stuffed.

I tapped Blaze on the shoulder, and he tore his gaze from the rush to look at me. I pointed to the sky, and Blaze began scanning overhead. As the first wave of bugbears slammed into the walls and started to climb, the harpy song echoed across the battlements. It was impressively coordinated for a bunch of dungeon creatures, but most of the men on the wall were prepared for this eventuality by Kyrenic. Still, a number of the defenders either had not listened to him or didn’t block their ears properly and went catatonic. The harpy’s attack only gave me a mild headache, as my mind fortress spell form protected me.

I moved three steps down the wall and removed the head of the first bugbear to reach the top in our corner. Soon, dozens had reached the top, and there was fighting all along the wall, but I remained near Blaze to protect him while he focused on the night sky. Finally, he released two arrows in quick succession, and one of the harpies spiraled from the sky and crashed into the field beyond. My pressure headache lessened, but it didn’t end, and Blaze was already searching for another harpy.

I pierced one bugbear in the back and leveraged him off the wall, almost losing my grip on Heartseeker as the heavy creature twisted on its death spit. I slashed a third across the back as he fought one of the locals. The muscle underneath the fur parted easily, and the creature bellowed in pain before the guard silenced him.

“Fire!!” Blaze yelled to get my attention.

I spun to see flames starting to lick up the wall on the far side of the city. The old men, women, and children were rushing to bring their buckets to deal with it, but likely would not be able to save the entire wall. Kyrenic was rushing over with a dozen men behind him to deal with the fire attack, so I remained here.

I was becoming concerned because, so far, none of the chieftains had attempted to scale the walls. A second harpy suddenly crashed down into one of the buildings, and the night was quieted of their disrupting song. Only the brutal sounds of combat could be heard now, with men and creatures locked in a struggle on the wall. It was clear we were going to win; the only question was how many defenders we would lose their lives.

The sounds of fighting erupted near the fire, and there were only dead and dying bugbears in the field. If there were no more harpies, the fight on this wall should be finished. I fished out two jars of healing salve and shoved them into Blaze’s hand. “Save who you can!” The salve would be able to close wounds and stop bleeding, but not much else.

I raced down the wall, killing three wounded bugbears locked in combat with the defenders before I jumped onto the roof of a building and then down to the ground to race toward the fire. A few buildings had caught fire, and a wall was still burning. If all the chieftains were at that location, it must be a desperate fight. I switched Heartseeker for Rhuuk’s broadsword as I ran. Before I even reached the flames, one of the chieftains was in the street preparing to cut down a child carrying a bucket. “Oi, pick on someone your own size!” I yelled as loud as I could.

The massive creature hesitated to look at me, and the child scrambled back, leaving the overturned bucket. The chieftain stood taller than Maveith and shared similar musculature under his fur. The overconfident creature squared off against me and assumed a simple defensive stance. How did a dungeon creature know a basic sword form? 

His basic skill didn’t matter as I reached him, easily parried his heavy longitudinal slash into the cobblestones, and was behind him with three quick steps. With two hands on my hilt, I pivoted my large blade and thrust through his spine and out of his chest. He gurgled as his lungs filled with blood, and I placed my foot on his back to push him off my blade and continued running.

Dead men, women, and children were near the gate with a half dozen of the larger bugbears fighting Kyrenic and two other guards. Soldiers on the burning wall were fighting a number of the lesser goblinoids at their position. “Do you mind if I help?” I said, rushing toward the melee.

Kyrenic was fighting on one leg as his calf was cut open and bleeding liberally. Recognition and relief flooded his features. He would likely be unconscious from blood loss shortly. Three of the six chieftains saw me as a threat and broke away. The first chieftain to reach me found his swing strike an invisible shield while my broadsword pierced his throat. He was a tough creature because even in the face of certain death, his free hand tried to claw my face. I used the blade lodged in his neck to leverage him out of reach and into the path of the other two chieftains.

This delayed my attackers and allowed me to reach Kyrenic. Three of the chieftains and a half dozen lesser bugbears were laid out dead around the knight and his two companions. I surprised the first chieftain by taking him from behind, then pivoting to block the steel sword of another directed at one of the knight’s allies. It was the first direct blow I had taken, and I grunted at the force of it—their muscles were not just for show.

My aether shield flashed, and I was annoyed that one of the bugbear chieftains I had rushed past had decided to throw his longsword at me. It was unexpected and burned my mulligan for the fight. I smashed a blindness pellet on the ground at them and then focused on one of the two remaining chieftains Kyrenic’s group was fighting. Kyrenic was down on one knee, but the two guards with him were protecting him.

Three quick exchanges and my opponent was missing both hands and his head. Others from the initial attack reached us and swarmed over the remaining bugbears. I took one more down from behind before kneeling to help Kyrenic. His calf muscle was cut halfway through, and the blood was pooling. “Don’t you carry healing potions?” I asked, holding the wound closed.

In a little bit of delirium from blood loss, he replied softly and out of breath, “I gave them to others.” I shook my head in disappointment—you should always save the last one for yourself. I didn’t want to use one of my three remaining dungeon healing potions on the knight; the paste and salve would only close the wounds and heal the tissue, but the knight needed his blood rejuvenated or might die.

“Drink this,” I said, removing the cap and tilting it into his mouth. “How did you let them get you from behind at the ankles?” Kyrenic took a few moments as the potion brought color back to his face, and his shallow breathing got stronger.

“Gremlin,” he finally said a bit angrily. “We were surrounded by the bugbears and gremlins got underfoot.” I stood and looked, but didn’t see any of the stunted goblins. They were probably hiding in the city now that the bugbears had been defeated. I was actually surprised the gremlins helped because I recalled that the gremlins in the stronghold had been shackled.

Kyrenic was on his feet, looking around at the carnage as the light of the new day broke across the city. “A great victory for the people,” he said gallantly.

There was a lot of cleaning up to do, but a bit sheepishly, I asked an important question. There were nearly a dozen chieftains dead around us. How could I use the collector on the dead without drawing attention to it?

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